See the Articles & Databases page on this guide for more Psychology databases or use one of the guides listed in "Other Useful Guides" on this page to find other databases based on your topic's subject.
Information is created in different formats and at varying times. The formats are usually dependent on the time in which the information is being produced. This process is sometimes called the Information Cycle or Timeline.
Some forms of information do not adhere to this timeline, but rather can be created or modified at any time (for example: social media posts or online encyclopedias).
For more detailed information on these formats see the TRU (Thompson Rivers University) Libraries Information Cycle page.
For more information about utilizing resources from different time periods see our Primary Sources box.
We are indebted to the VIU (Vancouver Island University) Library Information Cycle page for some of this content.
| Keywords | Subjects |
| Natural language words that describe your topic | Pre-defined "controlled vocabulary" that describe what an item is about |
| More flexible search - looks for anywhere the words appear in the record | Less flexible search - only the subject fields will be searched |
| Broader search, but may yield irrelevant results | Targeted search; results are usually more relevant to the topic, but may miss some variations |
Keyword searching is how we normally start a search. Pull out important words or phrases from your topic.
Subject Terms and/or Headings are pre-defined terms that are used to describe the content of an item. These terms are a controlled vocabulary and function similarly to hashtags on social media.
We are indebted to the MIT What are subject headings and keywords? box for some concepts displayed here.
In the Catalog, subject headings are displayed under "Description" in the record of an item. Click on the arrow to the left of "Description" and then scroll down to the section called "Subjects."
In the Databases, subject headings may be listed as Descriptors, Subjects and/or Subject Headings and are typically located in the Abstract and/or Details of an article.
There are a multitude of Subject Terms you might want to use depending on your topic, but here are a few to get you started.
Related Subject Terms:
See the Original Research & Research Methods page on this guide for detailed information on research methods.
This will include information on conducting interviews, mixed methods research approaches, and more.
Trying to find information about a specific topic, condition, community, or field? Find a report, organization, institution, or school dedicated to the study and research of that particular topic. One way to do this is to Google the subject you are interested in. An example of this would be if I wanted to find research on the impact of caregiving for those with depression. I Google caregiver AND depression and find many resources from institutions like Mayo Clinic and Family Caregiver Alliance. These resources will have information from many different resources, so not only is the page itself useful but the bibliography will also lead to other pertinent sources and I can investigate the organizations that compiled the resources.
Another strategy is to look for news coverage of your topic to see if they mention organizations involved in the field. You can do a similar search as above but limit to News.
Can't find what you are looking for? Ask a librarian for more help!