Library Research in Psychology
General Guides to Psychological Literature
Library Use: A Handbook for Psychology.
Published by the American Psychological Association, this tool provides guidance in selecting and defining the topic for a research paper as well as an introduction to reference tools in Psychology.
B76.R43 1992
The Psychologist's Companion.
Basic information on how to write psychology papers. Subjects covered include common misconceptions about writing, writing experimental research papers, APA guidelines, and standards for evaluating a paper.
Ref. BF76.8 .S73 2003
Psychology: A Guide to Reference and Information Sources.
This volume brings together over 500 selected sources in psychology, the social sciences, and related non-social science disciplines.
Ref. Z7201.B39 1993
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Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Provides brief definitions and extensive cross-referencing for psychological terms. Since it's fairly technical, you might want to use this title in conjunction with the Dictionary of Psychology.
APA Dictionary of Psychology Ref. BF31 .A63 2007
Dictionary of Psychology Ref. BF31 .C65 2001
Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior. 2 vols.
Entries provide information on the interactions between many aspects of physical and mental health.
Ref. R726.5 q.E53 2004
Encyclopedia of Human Behavior. 1994. 4 vols.
Intended for use by both students and research professionals. Articles on "all aspects of human behavior... " Bibliographies follow articles. Volume 4 includes an index.
Ref. BF31 q.E5 1994
Encyclopedia of Learning and Memory.
An encyclopedia covering all major aspects of learning and memory in humans and animals. Includes biographies of psychologists who have made contributions to the field of learning and memory.
Ref. BF318 q.E53 1992
Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment. 2 vols.
Provides detailed information and bibliographies on theory and methods of assessment.
Ref. BF39 .E497 2003
Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2000. 8 vols.
Entries are alphabetically arranged and cover both subject and biographical information. Many entries include a list of references. This is a good place to begin research on a topic. It provides definitions, historical background, general information, and, usually, references to other sources of information.
Ref. BF31 q.E52 2000
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Finding Books
To find items owned by the library, search LUCIA. Try a Subject begins with search, for example, psychology or memory. LUCIA will suggest related terms which can also be searched. You may want to consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings, or LCSH, a guide to the terms commonly used in catalogs like ours. Known informally as "the big red books" the LCSH can be found on the Ready Reference shelves behind the Reference desk on the first floor of the Seeley G. Mudd Library.
To combine terms for a different kind of search, try Keyword Anywhere. LUCIA will look for the terms you specify anywhere in the important areas of the cataloging records, and display a list of those records. Try a search for a phrase, like cognitive development, by searching with quotation marks around the phrase, as in "cognitive development". You can search for individual terms connected by logical operators like AND or OR. You might want to try searching for some of the terms you find in the LCSH. You can also search for multiple forms of words by using an asterisk; try a search like this one for experiment* AND psycholog*. The asterisk acts as a truncation symbol and tells LUCIA to search for all words starting with EXPERIMENT: experiments, experimental; and PSYCHOLOG: psychology, psychological and so on. You can target your search even more effectively by telling LUCIA to look for the terms in the subject area of the records; compare the Keyword Anywhere search with the Subject Keyword search.
Books are arranged on the library's shelves by Library of Congress Classification. This is a system which organizes materials by general subjects. Once you have a call number from searching LUCIA, see this guide to call number locations at Mudd and the library floor maps to find out where a book might be on the shelves.
Search LUCIA for materials in our library; try WorldCat to find materials beyond the Mudd. Make sure you've thoroughly searched our library before going to WorldCat. See a reference librarian if you need help.
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Finding Articles
The best index to use will depend on your topic. Be sure to check the Electronic Resources page for other options. A number of our resources provide complete full text. Some of our indexes include:
Academic OneFile
A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics. Includes full-text articles, many with images. 1980 - present; updated daily.
EBSCOhost.
A single Web source for multiple databases. Contains broad and specialized
coverage of academic and general periodicals. Follow the link for EBSCOhost Web. Academic Search Elite may be particularly useful; you may also want to consult ERIC or MEDLINE.
PsycINFO
The essential index to the literature of psychology. PsycINFO contains bibliographic references and summaries of the professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines. Produced by the American Psychological Association, PsycINFO provides access to books, book chapters, journal articles, dissertations, and technical reports.
PsycINFO uses search terms defined in the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms.
Currently, we provide access to PsycINFO via CSA which searches all PsycINFO journal, book and chapter records from 1840 to present. You can use two modes, Quick Search or the Advanced Search. Links are included for the full text of APA journals covered by
You will want to consult the guide to fields in PsycINFO records in order to take advantage of the advanced features. You should also consult the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms (RRef. [q.] Z695.1.P7 T48 2005) or use the online Thesaurus Search. See the "Searching PsycInfo on CSA" guide for more information.
Many other indexes from related disciplines might be appropriate to your research, for example, indexes from the fields of education, sociology, or gender studies. See a reference librarian for other suggestions.
You may also want to browse some of the library's psychology journals. The titles of these can be found by searching for subjects like psychology--periodicals or social psychology--periodicals or by a keyword search for su psycholog* and su periodicals.
Once you have a citation for an article on your topic, try the 
button to see if that particular article is available. If you don't find it, look in LUCIA for the title of the journal or newspaper to see if the library owns it. You can also search BESS, an
automated search of the library's full text databases, for electronic copies of articles.
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Finding Tests and Measures
Use the library's research guide to "Finding Psychological Tests, Scales and Measurements"
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Internet Resources
American Psychological Association (APA)
Lots of good information -- even more if you're a member. The APA Monitor is worth reading.
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
Adopted by the American Psychological Association's Council of Representatives in 2002.
Internet Resources for Psychology
Links to a number of useful resources, from the librarians.
Research Design Explained
"A resource for teaching the research design or research methods course."
Of course, there are many more web resources available that might be useful in your research. You might want to try looking at sources that select the best of the Web, like these:
It's important to think carefully about any information you find in any format, and to evaluate resources for their accuracy, applicability, and so forth. Evaluation of web resources is especially important. You may want to consult this guide to Evaluating Internet Resources. The library's Web Wise Guide to Searching give some helpful inside tips. You can often learn a lot about a page (and a site) by parsing the URL.
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Style Manuals
Academic Citation and Writing
Style manuals of the humanities, physical sciences, and the social sciences in the Seeley G. Mudd Library.
APAStyle.org
Explains the APA official style on citing many kinds of electronic information and communications, including e-mail.
Citing Electronic Documents
This page provides guidance on citing electronic documents and links to other guides, some on specific styles of documentation.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. 2001
The last word on how to cite the psychological literature. Also included are specifications and procedures to follow in submitting manuscripts for publication in various journals.
RRef. BF76.7 .P83 2001
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About Research in Psychology
If you are just beginning to research a topic in psychology, you may want to go through this guide section by section. Please be aware that library research is not always a linear process. You may want to start with information from the sources listed as general guides or from the encyclopedias and dictionaries and then progress on to books or journal articles. Further on in your research you may need to return to the general resources to fill in gaps in your knowledge of the field; for example, you may need to return to the dictionaries to define unfamiliar terms that crop up in your reading. You may need to consult more general resources like the Encyclopaedia Britannica or consult works in related disciplines like sociology, neuroscience, or biology.
Remember that in any written work you produce your sources must be fully documented. It may help to look at the information on style before you start your research, so that you will have all the details required for documentation at hand when you need them. Then as you write, go back to the resources on style for details on the exact format of your citations.
The sources listed in this guide were chosen for the broad coverage they provide. Direct links are provided to Internet resources and searchable databases, as well as links to LUCIA, the library's online catalog. Be sure to check the library's Electronic Resources page regularly to see new databases and indexes; some of these will only be available to users on the Lawrence campus. Also, you may want to take a look at guides on related topics from the Library Research Guides page.
Evaluating the resources you find is an essential part of the research process. See this guide to hints on evaluation of books and articles and this guide to evaluating Internet resources.
As always, if you have any questions be sure to ask a Reference Librarian.
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Definitions of terms and abbreviations:
Ref. = Reference collection, first floor
RRef.= Ready reference, shelves behind the reference desk
Periodicals = Level A
GovDoc = U.S. Government Documents, second floor
q. = Oversized books: interfiled in reference and in M class scores; at end of classes in other collections
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