Library

Psychology

Below are suggested resources to use when researching a Psychology topic. For research strategies and techniques, visit the resources linked from the menu at the left.

Getting Started | Finding Articles | Getting Fulltext

Specific Research Topics: Diagnosis | Research and Study Guides | Writing and Style Guides | Abnormal Psychology | Biology of Psychology | Clinical Practice | Cognitive Psychology | Developmental Psychology | Learning and Memory | Personality and Behavior | Social Psychology

 

Getting Started

Before jumping in and looking for research, it is a good idea to have a refined topic and to know a little about it. Start with broad resources like encyclopedias, bibliographies, and handbooks to start to get a sense of what is available on your topic in the universe of information.

Annual Review of Psychology BF30.A56
An overview of twenty major topic areas. This is a good source for identifying current topics in the field.

Dictionary of Psychology Ref BF31.C72 1999
Corsini’s reference works are considered monumental in the field of Psychology. This dictionary is a comprehensive collection short descriptions of psychology terminology Appendices describe prefixes, suffixes, and affixes; DSM-IV terms; the Greek alphabet; medical prescription terms; a list of systems of treatment; a list of measuring instruments; a symbols directory; and a directory of short biographies.

Companion Encyclopedia of Psychology Ref BF121.C65 1994
This work provides a comprehensive overview of all the major branches of psychology. It is divided into thirteen subject sections, among them biological aspects of behavior, sensation and perception, cognition, learning and skills, individual differences and personality, social psychology, developmental psychology, and abnormal psychology.

The Corsini Encylopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science Ref BF31.E528 2001
This is one of the standard reference sources for the field of psychology covering major topics and contributors.

Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish: Psychology and Related Fields BF76.5 .C645 1993
Provides valuable advice on finding and refining a topic, time management, selection of a chairperson and committee members, developing a proposal, reviewing the literature, methodology, data collection and analysis, presentation of the results, oral defense, the presentation of findings at professional meetings, and the submission of manuscripts based on a thesis or dissertation for publication consideration.

Encyclopedia of Psychology Ref BF31.E52 2000
An alphabetical list of articles providing in-depth coverage and extensive bibliographies. Major areas covered are psychology as a discipline, research design and statistics, psychological testing and assessment, developmental psychology, social psychology, cross-cultural psychology, clinical psychology, and psychology and other disciplines.

Encyclopedia of Mental Health Ref RA790.E53 1998
This encyclopedia is distinguished by its ability to make complicated material understandable to specialists and nonspecialists alike. Among the topics covered are aggression, agoraphobia, behavioral genetics, brain development and plasticity, the psychosocial aspects of caffeine, cognitive therapy, day care, exercise and mental health, hypertension, infertility, legal dimensions of mental health, middle age and well-being, obesity, psychopharmacology, smoking, television viewing, and wellness in children.

Library Use: A Handbook for Psychology BF76.8.R43 2003
A guide for finding psychology-related materials in a college library. There are sections on how to select and define a research topic, computer searching, locating a book, using PsycINFO and Psychological Abstracts to find journal articles, using psychology-related sources, citation searching, searching government information, and using psychological tests and measures.

Psychological Bulletin Periodicals PER BF1 .P69
Published by the American Psychological Association, the Psychological Bulletin publishes review articles that summarize the research that has been conducted on given topics in psychology. The literature reviews are scholarly and directed at professionals, researchers, and students.

Finding Articles

Search the following indexes to find articles on the topic of Psychology. See individual Resources by Subject guides for more specific indexes covering topics within the broader field of Psychology.

Academic Search Complete
A multi-disciplinary periodical database that includes indexing and abstracting both scholarly and popular content covering multi-disciplinary topics. Some coverage goes as far back as 1965, and over 4,000 titles are included fulltext. Use the Advanced Search for a more precise search!

Medline
An international resource containing citations, abstracts, and some full-text of articles from over 4,000 medical research journals. Indexes conthen from 1966 - present. Use the Advanced Search for a more precise search!

PsychINFO
The comprehensive international database of psychology covering over 1,900 leading psychological, psychiatric, and related publications containing academic, research and practice literature in psychology. Indexes journals, dissertations, book chapters, books, technical reports, and other documents from 1887 to the present. While PsycInfo is primarily a citation database, Simmons subscribes to a special enhanced version that includes the full text for articles from about 300 publications. Use the Advanced Search for a more precise search!

PSYCLine: Your Guide to Psychology and Social Science Journals on the Web
This site is an index to over 1,600 psychology and social science journals. It is important to realize that searches do not result in individual articles but to titles of journals. There is also an article locator. Users can search free tables of contents and abstracts databases provided by journal publishers.

Sociological Abstracts
This is a key resource for finding published research in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.The database draws information from an international selection of over 2,600 journals and other serials publications, plus conference papers, books, and dissertations, from 1963 - present. Use the Advanced Search for a more precise search!

Getting Fulltext

Because not all indexes are fulltext--or 100% fulltext--you may have to elsewhere to find an article for which you have a citation. Consult the resources below to find out how to get access to the articles you need.

Finding information on Specific Research Topics

For more information on more specific topics within the discipline, contact a librarian.

Diagnosis

Behavenet Clinical Capsule APA Diagnostic Classification http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/dsm4TRclassification.htm
Provides ordered access to information from the DSM-IV on diagnosis of disorders.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR. Ref RC455.2.C4 D54 2000
And Simmons E-resource via STATRef!
Commonly referred to as DSM, this is the standard manual used by psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, physicians, social workers, and other mental health professionals to define and diagnose mental disorders. The guidelines are accepted not only by mental health professionals but also by insurance companies, disability boards, and the courts.

The Clinician's Handbook: Integrated Diagnostics, Assessment, and Intervention in Adult and Adolescent Psychopathology RC469 .M457 1996
Links diagnostic issues with updated correlates and complementary data from other tests.

Diagnosis according to the DSM-IV Video Cassette 2519
Features 10 interviews with 10 real psychiatric patients, each with a different condition. Demonstrates how to collect the information needed to make a diagnosis and how to organize the information to distinguish one disorder from another. A roundtable discussion follows each interview.

Research and Study Guides

Tests, or study instruments, are necessary for performing research and informing clinical practice in psychology. Published instruments are protected by copyright and must be purchased. Abstracts of these are generally searchable in one of the many resources listed below. Unpublished tests are not copyright protected, but are difficult to locate. Sometimes information about or the instruments themselves can be found by searching one of the resources below, or by searching the Web using a search engine such a Google http://www.google.com.

APA Test Site http://www.apa.org/science/testing.html
The APA has constructed this Web site to assist users in finding and using psychological tests. APA offers advice under the following on finding both published and unpublished test. This is a very useful explanatory guide for researchers, students, or others seeking information on locating and using psychological tests.

Directory of Unpublished Experimental Mental Measures BF431 .G624
Provides information to non-commercial experimental measures. Often these are newly developed or recently used tests.

Handbook of Psychological Assessment Ref BF39.H2645 1990
This handbook has been designed as a reference guide to the most frequently used psychological tests. In addition to the chapters on specific assessment techniques, there are chapters covering topics such as the ethical practice of assessment, test bias and use with minority groups, computer-assisted assessment, the assessment interview, behavioral assessment, and the writing of psychological reports. Includes overviews, guidelines, and comparisons on assessment techniques.

Handbook of Tests and Measurements for Black Populations BF176 .H37 1996
Describes tests and measures for use with African American population.

Health and Psychosocial Instruments Simmons E-Resource
Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI) provides ready access to information on measurement instruments (i.e., questionnaires, interview schedules, checklists, index measures, coding schemes/ manuals, rating scales, projective techniques, vignettes/scenarios, tests) in the health fields, psychosocial sciences, organizational behavior, and library and information science.

Measures for clinical practice: a sourcebook BF176 .C66 2000
Describes measurement technique and provides current measures of change.

Mental Measurements Yearbook Ref BF176.M46 and Simmons E-Resource
The development of this landmark series by Oscar Buros was a response to the need for evaluative reviews of psychological and educational tests. Coverage is limited to commercially published English-language tests. Contains critical test reviews, many with bibliographies, written by professionals. There are also excerpts of reviews that have appeared in scholarly journals. Descriptive data are presented for each test, including information on audience, use, administration, scoring, and cost. In addition, many of the specific tests have a list of references. It is recognized as the standard source for factual and evaluative information on commercially available English-language tests used in psychological and educational assessments.

Tests: A Comprehensive Reference for Assessments in Psychology, Education, & Business Ref BF176.T43 1997
Provides information on approximately 4,000 English-language tests. Each entry includes title, author, copyright date, population, purpose, description, format (how the test is administered), scoring, cost, and publisher information. Reviews of tests are not included.

Test in Print BF176.B87 T47 2002
Indexes published tests, and reviews and other literature on tests.

Test Critiques Ref BF176.T419 1984
Designed to be used in conjunction with that Tests, this work provides details not included with the Tests directory, including a discussion of the application, administration, scoring, and implementation of the test as well as a discussion of reliability and validity studies. Each entry concludes with an overall critique and bibliography. There is also a listing of test publishers along with contact information.

TestLink http://www.ets.org/testcoll/index.html
The ETS Test Collection is a searchable database of 20,000 tests and measurement devices from the early 1900s to the present. Tests originating in the United States and internationally are indexed in the ETS Test Collection.

Writing and Style Guides

Clinician's thesaurus : the guidebook for writing psychological reports RC455.2.M38 Z823 2000
A guide to writing psychological and psychiatric evaluations, progress notes, testing-based reports, intakes, psychosocial narratives, managed care reports, and summaries of treatment.

Creating a Bibliography: APA http://my.simmons.edu/library/bibliography/apa_style.shtml
A quick guide created by Simmons College Library staff to assist users in the process of creating a bibliography. It includes the most commonly used citation types, as well as information on citing material within the text of a paper.

The Psychologist’s Companion: A Guide to Scientific Writing for Students and Researchers BF76.8.S73 1993
Chapters include information on library research papers, experimental research papers, commonly misused words, APA style format guidelines for data presentation, and common misconceptions about psychology papers. Additional resources include tips on writing better journal articles, writing grant or contract proposals, finding a book publisher, and advice on writing better lectures.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association Ref BF76.7.P83 2001
and http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
Intended to aid authors in the preparation of manuscripts, APA format is often required for papers in psychology and the social sciences.

Abnormal Psychology

50 Most Diagnosed Abnormal Psychological Syndromes http://www.mentalhealth.com/p20-grp.html
Provides a listing of syndromes with links to descriptions, information on diagnosis and treatment, and citations for research and other relevant publications.

Comprehensive Handbook of Psychopathology Via Netlibrary
A comprehensive review of current clinical descriptions, research, and theories in psychotherapy.

Biology of Psychology

Dictionary of Biopsychology QP360 .D52 2001
Includes a chapter on the history of the field and chapters covering topics relating to conceptual and measurement issues in personality, developmental issues, biological determinants of personality, social determinants of personality, dynamic personality processes, personality and the self, and applied psychology, all authored by leaders in the field of personality psychology.

Clinical Practice

Comprehensive Clinical Psychology RC467.C597 1998
Each volume represents one of the following broad fields: foundations of clinical psychology; professional, legal, and ethical issues; research and methodology; assessment; behavioral disorders in children and adolescents; behavioral problems and interventions with adults; clinical geropsychology; health psychology; clinical work with diverse populations; and cross-cultural psychopathology and interventions.

The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology: A Contextual Approach RJ503.C37 1999
The topics covered in this handbook are core to clinical child psychologists. Among the topics covered are sleep problems, attention and over-activity problems, fear and anxiety problems, drug abuse, anorexia and bulimia nervosa, physical abuse, sexual abuse, foster care, separation and divorce, and grief and bereavement. Numerous cases, tables, and figures are included to assist practitioners in diagnosing problems and identifying treatment options.

Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology RC467.8.H36 2003 (circulating)
A core reference source for graduate students and researchers in clinical psychology, this work covers general issues in clinical research, assessment, treatment, and issues relating to psychopathology and health. The last part discusses research issues pertaining to special populations, specifically children, adolescents, older adults, couples, and families.

Psychologists’ Desk Reference Ref RC467.2.P78 1998
This handbook has been designed for practitioners. It is useful not only to psychologists but also to other mental health professionals and physicians. Chapter cover major topics and issues, and were contributed by major practitioners in the field.

Cognitive Psychology

MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences Ref BF311.M556 1999
This landmark encyclopedia is the first comprehensive reference work to pull together cognitive research from six disciplines: psychology; philosophy; neurosciences; linguistics and language; culture, cognition, and evolution; and computational intelligence. There are long introductory essays for each of these disciplines. Among the various topics covered are aging and cognition, animal communication, aphasia, blind sight, cognitive architecture, cognitive linguistics, evolution, fuzzy logic, imagery, language acquisition, mental retardation, pain, sleep, stereotyping, thalamus, vagueness, and working memory.

Developmental Psychology

Encyclopedia of Adult Development Ref BF724.5.E53 1993
Although this encyclopedia covers human development from infancy through old age, the focus is on adult development. Articles by contributors from a variety of disciplines share ideas and research findings about a wide range of topics relating to development across the life span.

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Growth and Development QP84.C26 1998
Contributors from the fields of both psychology and the biological sciences offer articles on relevant topics in the study of human growth and development.

Handbook of the Psychology of Aging Ref BF724.55.A35 H36 2001
This handbook synthesizes the literature on the psychology of adult development and aging. Some topics covered in the first, second, and third editions of this work have been dropped in this latest edition. This edition has fewer chapters as a whole because the editors tried to keep the size manageable.

Handbook of Child Psychology Ref BF721.H242 1998
This handbook has been a standard reference work for more than half a century. It is regarded as the most important handbook in developmental psychology. Each volume covers specific aspects of child development. Chapters conclude with substantial bibliographies. Because each volume can be used independently, each volume has its own author and subject indexes.

Learning and Memory

Encyclopedia of Learning and Memory Ref BF318.E53 1992
More specialized than standard encyclopedias in psychology, entries in this work provide a good overview of topics relating to learning and memory and provide biographical sketches of twenty-six individuals who have contributed to our understanding of this subject. See and see also references are abundant, and the extensive subject index helps users locate specific subjects. Figures and photographs are also included.

Handbook of Emotion and Memory Ref BF311.H355 1991
This handbook fills a gap in the literature on the influence of emotion on memory. The handbook consists chapters written by prominent authorities in the field of emotion and memory, covering a variety of issues, including the interaction between emotion and learning, eyewitness memory, traumatic events, the biological aspects of emotion and memory, and emotional disorders and memory.

The Oxford Handbook of Memory BF371.084 2000
The first comprehensive handbook of memory ever published, it covers all aspects of memory, summarizing research findings from early behavioral studies to recent research using brain-scanning techniques. The handbook covers the development of memory, the study of memory in the laboratory environment and in daily life, the decline of memory, and the organization of memory. There are articles on methods of memory research, short-term memory, the encoding and retrieval of information, recollection, memory in infancy and early childhood, spatial memory, memory in the dementias, the neuroanatomy of memory, and episodic memory.

Personality and Behavior

Great Ideas in Personality
Searchable resource on scientific research programs in personality psychology.
http://www.personalityresearch.org/

Handbook of Personality BF698 .H335 1999
Chapters cover major issues in the study of personality psychology.

Handbook of Personality Psychology BF698.H3345 1997
This handbook provides a history of the field of personality psychology. Chapters cover topics relating to conceptual and measurement issues in personality, developmental issues, biological determinants of personality, social determinants of personality, dynamic personality processes, personality and the self, and applied psychology. For example, there are chapters on emotion, genetics, cross-cultural perceptions, the psychology of getting along, and the relationship between personality and health.

Social Psychology

Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Psychology HM251 .B476 1995
Alphabetical guide to major concepts in the field of social psychology.

Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology HF5548.8.H265 1990
A comprehensive handbook in industrial and organizational psychology. Covers theory, measurement, and research methodology. It contains chapters on motivation theory, learning theory, individual differences theory, quasi-experimentation, item response theory, multivariate correctional analysis, job analysis, personnel assessment, recruitment, training, employee performance, personality measurement, leadership in organizations, consumer psychology, conflict and stress in organizations, strategic decision making, and cross-cultural issues.

Handbook of Social Psychology Ref HM251.H224 1998
This is the classic handbook in the area of social psychology. The fourth edition differs significantly from the third. First, the editorship has been expanded from two to three editors. In addition, there have been significant changes in contributors. Many new contributors were recruited for this edition. In fact, the majority of the chapter authors are new and represent diversity in experience, orientation, and background. The result is a handbook that is essentially new in content. The editors note that approximately twenty of the thirty-seven chapters have no direct counterpart in the previous edition. Among the new topics covered are the self, emotions, automaticity, social stigma, memory, and evolutionary social psychology. It is useful to students and researchers in a wide range of social science disciplines, including psychology, sociology, communications, political science, and anthropology.

Social Psychology Links http://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htm#sexism
This directory lists links to resources with content on a diversity of subtopics in social psychology.

 

Page updated: April 24, 2007

 

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