As a student, reading peer-reviewed journal articles is essential for several reasons. First, these articles provide you with access to the latest research findings, methodologies, and advancements in the field, keeping you up-to-date with current knowledge. Second, they expose you to various perspectives and diverse research approaches, helping you develop critical thinking skills and enhancing your understanding of complex psychological issues. Lastly, engaging with peer-reviewed articles familiarizes you with the academic writing style and research process, which is invaluable when conducting your own research projects and contributing to the field.
Using a psychology-specific database can save time and effort because it narrows down the scope of your search, making it easier to find pertinent research compared to a general academic database. Additionally, these databases provide advanced search features tailored to the needs of psychology researchers, making it easier and more efficient to locate pertinent resources for your research questions.
Remember, you can also search the Database A - Z List and narrow the Subject search to Psychology.
Psychology students focusing on areas where psychological processes intersect with health outcomes—such as health psychology, clinical psychology, neuropsychology, and psychopharmacology—should especially engage with health databases. Research questions involving the psychological impact of medical conditions, the efficacy of therapeutic interventions, the neural correlates of mental health disorders, and the psychological aspects of health behaviors and chronic disease management are well-suited for exploration through biomedical resources. These databases provide vital clinical data and interdisciplinary research that can deepen understanding and inform evidence-based practice in these subfields.
Depending on your topic, it may be beneficial to include education databases in your searches because education literature often includes research on learning, cognition, and development.
Using a search log can be a great way to stay organized while completing a literature review.
Recording where you searched, what terms you used, and what results you retrieved can save you time over the course of the semester.
Below is a search log template that you can use or adapt for your own searches.
Index terms are controlled vocabulary terms used in database records to make searching easier and more successful. By standardizing the words or phrases used to represent concepts, you don't need to try and figure out all the ways different authors could refer to the same concept. Each record in APA's databases (PsycArticles, PsycInfo, PsycTests) contains controlled vocabulary terms from the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms. The Thesaurus can be accessed within any of the three APA databases listed above. For more information on using index terms, check out these videos below:
The Thesaurus has over 10,000 standard and cross-reference terms that are updated on a regular basis.
New terms added in the most recent release (Summer 2023) include: