Tomball College and Community Library           
Psychology Research Guide                      
http://tclibrary.nhmccd.edu                                               832-559-4211

Reference Books 
Start your research on psychology, the study of the mind and behavior of humans and other animals, in the Reference Area of the library.  Specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias on psychology will provide important background information on your topic:

APA Style Manual
Psychology professors usually require papers to be written in the APA documentation style found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Ref Desk BF76.7 .P82).  The APA Style Guide handout provides brief explanations of how to document specific types of materials.  Copies of the handout are also available near the 2nd floor Reference Desk in the Tomball College and Community Library.

Library Catalog
Use the NHMCCD online catalog to find print or electronic books and audiovisual materials for your psychology course.   Useful Library of Congress call numbers for locating psychology materials in the college's library research collection are:

Psychology Journals
Over 100 psychology journals are available from the Tomball College and Community Library.  For a complete listing, see the Tomball College and Community Library - Psychology Journals link on the library's web page or pick up a copy in the literature display stands near the 2nd floor reference desk.  A few of the available psychology journals are:

Databases and Indexes 
Several of the library's databases will have citations, abstracts, and full-text articles from magazines, journals and newspapers on topics related to psychology. To search the databases go to the Tomball College Library web page, choose Databases search from home or campus, then click on the Social Sciences. If you are accessing the databases from home, use the barcode number on the back of your college ID to log in.  Recommended databases for psychology are:

Ebsco Academic Search Premier - a specialized databases that includes many of the scholarly journals published in the field of psychology.  

Gale Health and Wellness Center - a good database for locating articles on mental health, drug and alcohol abuse, and treatments for psychological disorders.

ProQuest Research Library - a broad database that includes full-text and abstracts of journal, magazine and newspaper articles. Be sure to select scholarly journals to find the types of research articles required for psychology assignments.

1. Combine your search terms

suicide AND males - add a second or third term after the Boolean operator AND to narrow your search results

(adolescent OR teen) AND suicide - use the Boolean operator OR and parentheses to search for either one of the synonyms.

2. Search for phrases and names

 "attention deficit disorder" - place quotation marks around your term to search for only that exact phrase.

3. Eliminate information that you do not need

"attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" NOT Ritalin - use the Boolean operator NOT to exclude results that you do not need. In this example, articles that discuss Ritalin are excluded.

4. Find all the forms of your key terms

addict* - place an asterisk immediately after a root word to find all the forms of a word (addicts, addiction, addictive)

5. Limit your results with the following options:

Full text - limit your results to only the citations that include the full-text of the article.

Scholarly/Peer-reviewed/Refereed Publications -  notice that each database uses a different term to designate scholarly journals. To eliminate popular magazines and newspapers from your search results use this limiter.

Publication title -  search only for the magazine, journal, or newspaper that you need. If you already have a citation or are required to use a specific periodical, limiting your search to the publication title helps you to quickly locate the publication, issue, and article that you need.

Date - set a date range that you want to search. For example, if you need journals published in the last five years, set the published date range for January 2001 to December 2005. 

Elements of a Research Article
Once you have located an article on your topic, your next step is to determine if it is a research article.  Listed below are the key elements that will help you identify psychology research articles.

a. Presents a summary of the article.
b. Identifies the researchers and institutions involved in the study.
b. States the purpose of the study
c. Briefly describes the study population
d  States the main facts discovered in the study.

a. Outlines the reasons for doing the study. (e.g., gap in previous research studies, different
    methodology, focus on different populations).
b. Cites and discusses findings of related research by other professionals.
c. States the problem that will be studied and the goal of the research.

a. Describes the study participants, including details on the sex, age, etc. of the
    participants, as well as the selection process.
b. Explains how the study experiment was performed, including details of the procedures
    followed, questionnaires, observations, interviews, tests, etc. used for data collection.

a. Provides tables, charts, graphs of the findings.
b. States how the data was analyzed.
c. Summarizes what occurred and what the results of  the study were.

5. Discussion or Conclusions

a. Discusses the expected and unexpected findings of the study.
b. Explains how the study contributed to the knowledge in the subject area.
c. Outlines implications for further study

6. Additional Materials

a. References, the list documenting the materials that were used by the researchers to
    support their research and findings.
b. Appendices, such as copies of the questionnaire. 
c. Additional information about the authors, including their current positions, credentials, and
   other publications.
d. Technical information that will help the reader understand how the study was conducted
    or how the data was analyzed.

lnternet Resources for Psychology
If you need to find web sites for your assignment, start with authoritative sites that are recognized by professionals in the field:

American Psychological Association - http://www.apa.org 
The largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States.

American Psychiatric Association - http://www.psych.org  
An association of physicians that specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders.

American Society of Addiction Medicine - http://www.asam.org/
A medical society for physicians who treat patients with alcoholism and other addictions.

NIMH -- http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/index.cfm
The National Institute of Mental Health is a federal agency that collects, analyzes and disseminates information on mental illness and behavioral disorders and sponsors research on the mind, brain, and behavior.

Psychcentral.com - http://psychcentral.com/
An annotated directory created by Dr. John Grohol of psychology web sites, newsgroups, and associations in mental health, psychology, social work, and psychiatry.

SAMHSA's National Mental Health Information Center - http://www.samhsa.gov/centers/cmhs/cmhs.html The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' clearinghouse of information on substance abuse and mental health.

revised 08/30/2005