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Introductory Psychology Research Guide

When to Use This Guide

Use this guide when you are researching basic concepts, terminology, and theories of psychology. It will provide a foundation for further studies.

Finding General or Background Information on Psychology

Use both general and subject reference sources to find background information on psychology. You can explore broad concepts such as theories, big names in the field, and controversies, as well as specific terminology. Start with the sources listed below.

• Encyclopedia Britannica - online resource
• Gale Virtual Reference Library - an online collection of reference books, many on psychology
• Psychology Basics - R BF 31 .P765 2005
• The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science [electronic book]
• A Pictorial History of Psychology - R BF 81 .P47 1997
• Popular Psychology: An Encyclopedia - R BF 31 .C715 2005

Subject Headings for Finding Psychology Information in the Book and Media Catalog

• Psychology
• Names of branches of psychology, e.g., developmental psychology
• Names of theories, followed by the word “psychology,” e.g., behaviorism psychology
• Concepts in psychology, e.g., consciousness, aggressiveness
• Concepts not limited to psychology followed by the word “psychology,” e.g., loss psychology

Finding Articles About Psychology in Research Databases

EBSCOhost
Search EBSCOhost for psychology articles published in scholarly, popular, and general interest periodicals.

PsycArticles
PsycARTICLES© is a database of full-text articles from journals published by the American Psychological Association and others.Coverage for some of them extends back to the 19th century. Note the Thesarus (link at the bottom of the screen) for help in finding synonyms and broader, narrower, or related concepts.

Congressional Quarterly Researcher (CQ Researcher)
Contains reports about issues widely discussed in the media, for example, family, teen sex, depression, learning, tv violence, and adoption. While these topics are not discussed from a strictly psychological perspective, the reports can provide context and background for your research.

Selected Web Sites

History of Psychology
Over 1,000 links organized by the following indexes: people (by birth date and alphabetically) and categories (e.g., images, writings, chronologies, organizations). You can test your psychology knowledge through a trivia question-and-answer presentation.

Classics in the History of Psychology
The site contains 25 books and about 200 articles and chapters from classic works in psychology. There are also links to over 200 relevant works posted at other sites. From York University, Toronto, Canada.

Today in the History of Psychology
The American Psychological Association Historical Database is a collection of dates and brief descriptions of over 3,100 events in the history of psychology.

Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study of Mind and Society
Students, as part of an advanced seminar, examined and wrote about the lives of women psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, social workers, about their intellectual contributions and the unique impact and special problems that being female had on their careers. From Webster University.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP)
A work in progress since 1997, the SEP is a dynamic reference work where each entry is maintained and kept up-to-date by an expert or group of experts in the field (not unlike Wikipedia). An Editorial Board made up of members of philosophy departments in. universities assigns and approves entries and all subsequent updates and modifications. Search for “psychology” to find articles on cognitive science, memory, folk psychology, behaviorism, consciousness, etc.

Human Intelligence
This well organized and interactive site from Indiana University includes biographical profiles of people who have influenced the development of intelligence theory and testing, as well as in-depth articles exploring current controversies related to human intelligence.

Page Last Updated: February 14 2013