LibGuides: *JFK School of Psychology & Social Sciences: Get Started with NU Library: Searching the Library

Research Best Bets

APA PsycArticles® This link opens in a new window
Content: APA database that offers full-text for journals published by APA, the Canadian Psychological Association, Hogrefe Publishing Group and APA's Educational Publishing Foundation. View the APA PsycArticles Journal History for a complete coverage list.
Purpose: Important database for psychology, counseling, and education students.
Special Features: The database is updated bi-weekly all content is available in PDF and HTML formats.
Help using this database.
APA PsycBooks® This link opens in a new window
Content: Ebook database from the American Psychological Association that includes the most current scholarly and professional titles published by APA, as well as historical and classic works from the behavioral and social sciences.
Purpose: A fundamental resource for any psychology student.
Help using this database.
APA PsycInfo® This link opens in a new window
Content: Journal article database from the American Psychological Association that indexes over 2,500 journals along with book chapters and dissertations.
Purpose: Provides a single source of vetted, authoritative research for users across the behavioral and social sciences.
Special Features: citations in APA Style®, updated bi-weekly, spans 600 years of content
Help using this database.
PsychiatryOnline.com This link opens in a new window
Content: Strong in psychiatric reference materials, but also including some journals. Includes the DSM Library.
Purpose: Use when researching psychiatry, mental health, and behavioral science topics.
Special Features: Includes the DSM-5 manual

SAGE Video: Counseling & Psychotherapy
Tutorials and interviews with leading experts. Topics include the teaching and learning of counseling and issues in practice. Filter by source type, discipline, and search for keywords within texts.

SoPSS A to Z Database List

Searching FAQs

Search the Library

Search for articles, books, dissertations, and more

How to Use Navigator Search

Search Tips

To maximize your time and effectiveness in the research process, take advantage of some of the following search techniques that can be applied to many databases, including article databases, the library catalog, and commercial search engines.

Boolean Operators

Boolean searching involves connecting terms and concepts using the words AND, OR, and NOT in order to narrow or expand your search.

Use AND to connect different main concepts in your research question/topic and refine your search results (internet AND bullying).
Use OR to connect like terms or synonyms to expand your search results ("artificial intelligence" OR AI).
Use NOT to remove unwanted terms from your search results (biology NOT marine).

Search Modifiers

Quotation marks can be used to tell the databases to search for exact phrases, names, and multi-word terms.

"artificial intelligence"
"Sigmund Freud"
"human immunodeficiency virus

Truncation is a technique used to broaden your search. Truncation searches multiple forms of a root word to include various word endings and spellings.

To use truncation, enter the base word and put the truncation symbol at the end (usually an *asterisk).
The results will include any ending of that root word.
Truncation symbols vary by database and website but are most commonly: *, !, ?
Example: child* = child, child's, children, childhood

Parentheses determine the order in which the database will search terms and Boolean Operators.

Searching for supply AND (chain OR network) will return results that include the word supply, plus either the word chain or the word network, or both.
Searching for car AND ("artificial intelligence" OR AI) will return results that include the word car, plus either the phrase artificial intelligence or the word AI, or both.