PSY 224 (Campus) Research II: Scientific Investigation
Other Psychology Guides
More Helpful Guides
Welcome to the PSY-224 Research Guide!
This guide is your one-stop library resource for scholarly and non-scholarly books and eBooks, databases and journals, web resources, research tips and tools, career information, and more to support your work in PSY 224! In this guide, you'll also find information on library services, tools, and other web resources to help you conduct your research project, create your poster presentation, cite your sources, and more.
Use the blue buttons on the left to navigate through the guide and find what you need. Ask a reference librarian if you need additional assistance via email (ask@snhu.libanswers.com) or by using the yellow "Chat 24/7 with a Librarian" button on the library home page. Additionally, you can make an appointment (any length... 5 minutes to an hour+) to meet virtually with the Campus Faculty Librarian, Karin Heffernan, by emailing k.heffernan@snhu.edu.
Psychology is a fascinating and varied discipline. Often, you'll find that the core resources (databases) below contain the information you need for your research project. Additional resources are listed by specialty on the Psychology Research Guide as follows:
- Addictions
- Applied Psychology
- Forensic Psychology
- Industrial/Organizational Psychology
- Mental Health
- Social Psychology
Below is the syllabus for your PSY-224 course with Professor Frost.
Core Psychology Resources
For most topics and research questions in Psychology, you'll find the resources below helpful. Icons indicate what kind of resources are included in each database.
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders : DSM-5 This link opens in a new windowThe most comprehensive, current, and critical resource for clinical practice available to today's mental health clinicians and researchers of all orientations. DSM-5 is used by health professionals, social workers, and forensic and legal specialists to diagnose and classify mental disorders, and is the product of more than 10 years of effort by hundreds of international experts in all aspects of mental health. The criteria are concise and explicit, intended to facilitate an objective assessment of symptom presentations in a variety of clinical settings - inpatient, outpatient, partial hospital, consultation-liaison, clinical, private-practice, and primary care.
Databases
- PsycARTICLES - EBSCO This link opens in a new windowFrom the APA: a definitive source of full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology
- PsycBOOKS - EBSCO This link opens in a new windowPsycBOOKS includes the newest APA published scholarly and professional books including reference works from the APA Handbooks in Psychology Series that delve deep into specific subfields within psychology. Essential to education, research and teaching across the behavioral sciences, PsycBOOKS is an indispensable resource for every psychology program.
- PsycEXTRA - EBSCO This link opens in a new windowProduced by the APA; document types include technical, annual and government reports, conference papers, newsletters, magazines, newspapers, and consumer brochures
- PsycINFO - EBSCO This link opens in a new windowFrom the APA, contains citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, all in psychology and related disciplines
- Psychiatry Online This link opens in a new windowCollection of psychiatric references, including books, journals and self-assessment tools. Provides access to the DSM-5. The following journals are available through this database: The American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, and The Journal of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences.
- Psychology Database - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowFull-text journals and indexing from top psychology and related publications
- SAGE Journals This link opens in a new windowThe SAGE Journals platform includes full text of scholarly journals from SAGE publications in many disciplines, such as, education, sociology, women's studies, criminal justice and business.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowOffers a collection of full-text, scholarly journals and eBooks in science, technology, medicine, and social sciences.
"Tertiary" Sources - to find overviews, categories of information on your topic:
- Credo This link opens in a new windowCREDO is a reference database full of mostly specialized encyclopedia type entries. It is a great place to get overviews of a particular psychological disorder or issue or concept. Often the CREDO entries will highlight major theories dealing with the issue being defined. You will not find scholarly research articles in CREDO although you may find them discussed and may look them up in the other Psychology databases.
- PerplexityPerplexity is an AI application (large language model or LLM) that can be useful to identify categories of information about your topic, key points that you will want to consider and research. This links to the free version.
Video tutorial on using Shapiro Library Psychology databases
Psychology Associations
- American Psychological Association (APA) This link opens in a new windowAPA is the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States, with more than 121,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students as its members. This site includes a search box to find books and articles as well as a page to explore topics within Psychology.
- Eastern Psychological Association This link opens in a new windowEaster Psychological Association (EPA) is the oldest of America's regional psychology associations. It is a "welcoming forum for sharing the science of psychology and exchanging ideas with fellow psychologists and students. They host an annual conference where psychologists present cutting edge research in talks, posters, symposia and keynotes. EPA's conference is both student friendly and research focused at the same time.
- The New England Psychological Association This link opens in a new windowThe New England Psychological Association (NEPA) is a regional association for psychological science that partners with the Northeastern Conference for the Teaching of Psychology (NECTOP).Their primary purpose is to bring those interested in psychological science and the teaching of psychology together via an annual conference that focuses on empirical research in psychological science as well as best practices and innovations in teaching. The programming includes invited addresses, symposia, workshops, papers, posters, awards, and exhibitors. They encourage submissions from undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, faculty, and practitioners/professionals. They proudly work with Psi Chi and Psi Beta and sponsor an Honorary Undergraduate Scholars Award for undergraduates in New England Colleges/Universities that have excelled and advanced psychological science during their undergraduate career.
- American Psychiatric Association (APA) This link opens in a new windowThe American Psychiatric Association is an organization of psychiatrists working together to ensure humane care and effective treatment for all persons with mental illness, including substance use disorders. It is the voice and conscience of modern psychiatry. Its vision is a society that has available, accessible quality psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.
- Association for Psychological Science (APS) This link opens in a new windowAPS is the leading international organization dedicated to advancing scientific psychology across disciplinary and geographic borders. Members provide a richer understanding of the world through their research, teaching, and application of psychological science.
- International Honors Society in Psychology (Psi Chi) This link opens in a new windowPsi Chi is dedicated to recognizing and promoting excellence in scholarship in the science and application of psychology. They do this by encouraging members to conduct exemplary research, disseminate and apply research findings, and maintain a lifelong interest in exploring the field of psychology.
Types of Psychology Sources
There are many sources you will encounter as you research in psychology. These sources have different characteristics. Take care to match the sources you use to your projects.
| Publication Type | Examples | Content | Authors | Audience | Reviewed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Journals | Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health | Original research, In-depth, Specific, Sources cited | Scholars and Practitioners | Scholars, Industry Professionals, Students | Scholars (Peer Review) |
| Popular News and Magazines | Psychology Today | Brief articles on topics of general interest, Advertisements | Journalists | General Public | Editors |
| Case Studies |
Psychotherapy.net |
Detailed examination and analysis of a specific case | Scholars and Practitioners | Scholars, Industry Professionals, Students | Scholars (Peer Review) |
| Government Information |
National Institute of Mental Health |
Research, Health Guidelines | Government Agencies, including NIH and CDC | Scholars, Students | Government Agencies |
Google Scholar
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts, and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other web sites.
Google Scholar Search results have the following options:
- Citation for the article in 5 formats & export to various citation managers including RefWorks which SNHU provides for all their students & employees
- Click on "Cited by" beneath each result in Google Scholar to see a list of all the articles written more recently that cite that article
- Google Scholar searches may be narrowed down by date in the left margin of the results list
- If the full text is available, it will appear as a link to the right of the citation. The link below demonstrates how to connect Google Scholar to the Shapiro Library databases.
Semantic Scholar
Like Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar searches scholarly publications of all kinds. They are "a free AI-powered research tool for scientific literature based at the Allen Institute for AI." Their mission "is to accelerate scientific breakthroughs by helping scholars locate and understand the right research, make important connections, and overcome information overload. Semantic Scholar is... open and free for all to use... and they actively collaborate with industry partners... to provide open access to relevant scientific research." Search using the link below.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
If you locate sources that are not available in the library databases, you may request them through Interlibrary Loan and the library will provide them to you for free. The link to request something through ILL is in the Quick Links box on the library home page.
- Interlibrary LoanThis link takes you directly to your ILL account where you may click on "Create Request" at the top right of the page to request a book, article, document, etc.
- ILL FAQs listLink to a list of FAQs about Interlibrary Loan to answer any questions about the process or how to request an item.