Information seeking in Psychology

The guide provides an overview of the specific features of information seeking in the field of psychology. The information is particularly suitable for students working on their thesis or dissertation, but also for more advanced information seekers who need a revision.

Table of contents

How to start?
 

Take the time to brainstorm keywords and choose relevant databases according to the publishing culture in your field.

In psychology research, the most common type of publication is articles in scientific journals, and often the information seeking focuses on article databases. In these, it is easy to limit the results to peer-reviewed ones. Books are less frequently peer-reviewed; quality control is carried out by publishers, editors and the experts they use. 
 

Search terms

For brainstorming the keywords use

1) reference works, such as

2) databases' own subject headings: you can find them in databases most commonly under thesaurus, subject terms or subjects.

An example of the use of Eric Thesaurus is shown in the figure.


Click here to view the accessible version of this interactive content
 

Different types of databases

Databases focused on your own field are at the centre of information gathering. Neighbouring databases, multidisciplinary databases, e-book databases, JYKDOK article search and Google Scholar are also usable.

  • The advantages of searching in your own field are that they are specialised in saving and searching for information specifically related to education. This means that the information is more selective, you can apply relevant filters, and the number of search results is usually sufficient to go through everything.
  • Multidisciplinary databases give an overview of the amount of research that has been done on a subject. There are usually many search results and it can be difficult to narrow down a search.

Main databases

Databases in related sciences

Multidisciplinary databases

It is usable to search in your own discipline. For example, in Scopus: do a search > select Subject Area: 'Psychology' from the left.

Book databases

  • In JYKDOK, you can find print and e-books by searching under the "Books, journals and databases" tab.
  • Finna database (Finnish libraries, archives and museums)

E-books can also be searched from multidisciplinary and publisher-specific databases:

Other information sources

JYKDOK International articles search

JYKDOK's international articles search is ideal for quick searches and when you already know the name of an article and want to find it. Search results can be filtered to peer-reviewed articles. For more specific searches, you can use databases in your discipline.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar can be used as a search tool in addition to databases, as long as you remember that, despite its name, its results include more than just scientific information. Therefore, the scientific nature of a publication must always be assessed separately! Results cannot be limited to peer-reviewed publications/articles.

Theses and dissertations

Remember that masters' theses are not used as scientific sources, as they rarely correspond to the level of scientific research.

Information about research methods

 

Other tips

Open access databases and journals

Instructions and guides

 

Need help?