Research Guides: PSY 101 General Psychology (McLellan): Searching for peer-reviewed journal articles

Finding Scholarly Psychology Articles

Here are some of the leading PSYCHOLOGY DATABASES offered through the Salem State University Library...

PsycINFO
(EBSCO) APA database containing millions of citations & abstracts of scholarly journal articles, books, & other formats focusing on psychology and psychological aspects of related fields. Full text and full text linking. Coverage: 1887-Current
PsycArticles
(EBSCO) Contains articles published by the American Psychological Association (APA) and allied organizations. It is a definitive source of full-text, peer-reviewed articles. Coverage: 1894-Current.
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
(EBSCO) Comprehensive database covering such topics as emotional & behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, & observational and experimental methods. Full text & abstracts. Coverage: 1965-Current.
Psychology Database
(Proquest) Provides abstracts and indexing for more than 650 titles, with over 540 titles available in full text. Also includes 4,000 full text dissertations representing a range of psychology disciplines. Coverage: 1971-Current
ScienceDirect
Large database of Elsevier online journals. The Library subscribes to the following collections: Health and Life Science, Physical Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences. Full text available, dates of coverage vary.

Request an article

Did you find the abstract of a scholarly article that you would like for your research, but we do not have the full text of the article?

Place a request through interlibrary loan and they will get it from another library and e-mail it to you. For cost put zero, for barcode use the number on the back of your Clipper Card (that is your library card number).

SSU Library journal article request form

Find a scholarly journal by title

Have the citation to an article and want to know if we have full text available at the library?

Search our publications directory - if we do it will link you to it! Or browse for journals in your field.

Search by journal title

Why scholarly journals?

With most assignments you will find that you are expected to research and cite scholarly journal articles. Have you ever wondered why?

Scholarly journals contain articles written by experts/scholars doing research in the field. The author's affiliations are listed verifying his/her background.
Scholarly journal articles always contain citations of their sources. These bibliographies are often lengthy and cite other scholarly writings.
Most articles start with an abstract of the article and are primarily made up of text. You may see graphs or charts, but typically you will not see glossy pages or many pictures (if any).
Scholarly journal articles are written in the language of the field covered, therefore it is targeted towards readers with background in that field.
The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report on original research. Before an article is published in a scholarly it is often vetted by fellow experts in the field.

AND IF THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH REASON...

Citing scholarly journal articles in your research shows you took the effort to find them and that you have a grasp on the language/theory/methods of your field.
Scholarly journal articles make your arguments stronger.