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Psychology: Journals & Databases

Searching for academic resources

Library Search | Ketu provides fast, simple, one-step searching across the Library's resources - books, journal articles, newspapers and more. It's not a replacement for the detailed and precise search tools available from individual subject specific databases. 

On this page you'll find links to popular databases for research in Psychology, and some tutorials about how to use these effectively.

Recommended databases

Start with these databases to locate literature sources for your topic:

Evaluating resources

It's really important that you evaluate your sources of information, and think critically about whether they are appropriate for your purpose. Even though the library databases are good sources of information, you still need to evaluate that information before deciding to use it. There are a number of different models you can use. Keep in mind:

  • Not all information is reliable and appropriate for academic work, and not all information is relevant to your particular topic.
  • You should challenge and reflect on information that you find - don’t just accept everything you read.

When we speak about whakapapa, aho can mean line of descent. In this framework we are also tracing the multitude of whakapapa lines to see a cohesive picture of the information we are engaging with as we expand our knowledge. 

  • Pūtaketanga - Origin
  • Aronga - Lens, perspective, purpose
  • Tātai honanga - Connections
  • Māramatanga - Understanding

Is it a TRAAP? 

  • Timeliness 
  • Relevance 
  • Authority
  • Accuracy
  • Purpose

Even though the library databases are good sources of information, we still need to evaluate that information before we decide to use it. You can do this by asking the following questions:

  • Is the information relevant to your topic?​
  • Who are the authors, are they experts in the field? Who do they work for? What else have they written?​
  • What evidence is given, what references are given, and what methodology is used?​
  • How is the study funded? Is there a bias?​
  • When was the information written, is it still relevant? Has it been updated or amended in light of new evidence?

Use the acronym BADURL to help you evaluate online sources:
B - Bias
A - Authority
D - Date
U - URL
R - Relevance
L - Links

Here are some additional resources to help develop your evaluating skills:

Advanced research

You may need to broaden your search to capture all of the literature on your topic. Try these additional databases:

Database tutorials

The following tutorials will help you get started in searching for literature in different databases. Although you will be using the same search terms, the techniques you use in different databases will change. You can also check the "Help" section on each database for further instructions.