Psychology Research Guide

George Mason University Libraries

Many resources covering the field of psychology are available in the print and electronic
collections of the GMU Libraries. Reference materials, circulating books, documents, electronic
journals and multimedia are among the many sources that provide information to researchers
in the field of psychology. This guide provides suggestions and beginning search strategies for
researchers; please contact a reference staff member for additional assistance.

The Library Catalog
Books, reference sources, documents and multimedia in the field of psychology can be
searched in a number of ways in the GMU Libraries’ online catalog. Access by author, title and
keyword are among the primary methods of catalog searching. One additional and precise way
to search on your topic is to use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH); the
following is a sampling of these standardized headings that can be useful for locating
psychology resources. When searching, use the drop-down menu and highlight subject.

Concepts in Psychology:

Behaviorism (Psychology)
Neuropsychology
Personality Disorders
Psychological Theory
Psychology, Industrial
Social Interaction

Works about a Psychologist:

Freud, Sigmund 1856-1939
Freud, Sigmund 1856-1939- Influence
Adler, Alfred 1870-1937

Library Call Numbers

Listed below are some of the key call number ranges in Fenwick Library for circulating books
on psychology.

BF 173-175.5 Psychoanalysis
BF 176-176.5 Psychological Tests and Testing
BF 180-198.7 Experimental Psychology
BF 309-499 Cognition, Perception, Intuition, Memory
BF 698-698.9 Personality
BF 712-724.85 Developmental Psychology
Page 2 Psychology, (1/04)
BF795-839 Temperament. Character
BF1001-1389 Parapsychology
RC321-571 Neurosciences Neuropsychiatry
RC500-510 Psychoanalysis
RC512-569.5 Psychopathology
R554-569.5 Personality Disorders


REFERENCE COLLECTION
Fenwick Library Reference Department, 1st floor B Wing, has a large collection of
psychology handbooks, guides, and test and measures references. Listed below are
selected titles which are useful to the study of psychology.


GUIDES TO THE LITERATURE
American Psychological Association. (2001) Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms. (9th ed.)
Washington: APA.
Fenwick Ref Desk BF1 .T5 2001
Also at Arlington Campus Library

Annual Review of Psychology. (1950-- ) (Vols. 1-present). Stanford, CA: Annual Reviews.
Fenwick Stacks BF1 .A66
Online resource Annual Reviews (Vol 47, 1997-present)

Reed, JG and Baxter, PM. (2003) Library Use: Handbook for Psychology. ( 3rd ed.) Washington:
American Psychological Association.
Fenwick Ref BF76.8.R43 2003

Sternberg, R.J. (2003) Psychologist’s Companion: A guide to Scientific Writing for Students
and Researchers. (4th ed.) New York: Cambridge University Press.
Fenwick Ref BF76.8 .S73 2003

Zuckerman, E.L. (2000) Clinician’s Thesaurus: The Guide for Writing Psychological Reports.
5th ed. New York: Guilford Press.
Fenwick Ref RC455.2 .M38Z823 2000

DICTIONARIES AND GENERAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS
Benner, DG. (1999) Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology and Counseling. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Books.
Fenwick Ref BF31 .B25 1999

Craighead, WE (2001) Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science. (3rd ed)
New York: Wiley.
Fenwick Ref BF31 .E525 2001 (Also an electronic book, available from Net Library database.)

Friedman, HS. (1998) Encyclopedia of Mental Health. San Diego, Academic Press.
Fenwick Ref RA790 .E53 1998
Also at PWC Library Ref RA790 .E53 1998

Koocher, GP. (1998) Psychologists’ Desk Reference. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Fenwick Ref RC467.2 .P78 1998

Reber, AS (2001) The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology. ( 3rd ed.) New York: Penguin Books.
Fenwick Ref BF31 .R43 2001
Also at PWC Library Ref BF31 .R43 2001

Roeckelein, JE. (1998) Dictionary of Theories, Laws and Concepts in Psychology. Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press.
Fenwick Ref BF31 .R625 1998

Sheehy, N. (1997) Biographical Dictionary of Psychology. New York: Routledge Reference.
Fenwick & Arl Ref BF109 .A1 B56 1997

SPECIALIZED HANDBOOKS AND GUIDES
Adelman, G. (1999) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. (2nd ed.) New York: Elsevier.
Fenwick Ref RC334 .E53 1999

American Psychiatric Association. (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders. (4th ed.) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association
Fenwick Ref RC455.2 C4 D754 1994

Doctor, R.M. (2000) Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears and Anxieties. New York: Facts on File.
Fenwick Ref RC535 .D63 2000

Fernandez-Ballesteros, R. (2003) Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Fenwick Ref BF176 .E53 2003

Melton, J.G. (1996) Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. (4th ed., V. 1-2). Detroit:
Gale.
Fenwick Ref BF1407 .E52 1996

Miermont, J (1995) A Dictionary of Family Therapy. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Reference.
Fenwick Ref RC488.5 .M5313 1995

Pashler, H. E.(2002) Handbook of Experimental Psychology. (3rd ed.) New York: Wiley & Sons.
Fenwick Ref BF181 .H336 2002

Pyrczak, F. (2003) Writing Empirical Research Reports. (4th ed.) Los Angeles:Pyrczak Pub.
Fenwick Ref LB2369 .P97 2003

Smyth, TR (1996) Writing in Psychology: a Student Guide. (2nd ed.) New York: Wiley & Sons.
Fenwick Ref BF76.7 .S69 1996

PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS AND MEASURES
Buros, O. Mental Measurements Yearbook. Highland Park, NJ: Mental Measurements
Yearbook.
Fenwick Ref BF431 .B8 (1st-15th & Suppls. 10th-13th)

Buros, O. Tests in Print. Lincoln, Neb: Buros Institute.
Fenwick Ref BF431 .B8 T4 parts 1-6

Keyser, DJ. Test Critiques. Kansas City: Test: Test Corporation of America.
Fenwick Ref BF176 .T419 1984 vols. 1-10

Rush, AJ (2000) Handbook of Psychiatric Measures (cd-rom also avail.) Washington: American
Psychiatric Association.
Fenwick Ref RC473.P78 A46 2000

DATABASES
Many licensed databases can be accessed through the GMU Libraries Homepage
http://library.gmu.edu. These electronic resources offer search capabilities for the journal
literature of psychology, and in some cases provide full text of the articles as well. Students,
staff and faculty may access all these resources from off-campus. Listed below are some of the
key databases useful to students and researchers in psychology.
AARP Ageline Interdisciplinary abstracts on gerontology, psychology, health and more.
Annual Review of Psychology Synthesis of significant peer-reviewed journal literature in
psychology.
Dissertation Abstracts Provides abstracts of English language dissertations since 1980.
ERIC Abstracts of articles, books, conference proceedings and theses on educational topics.
Some full-text ERIC articles,1993-present, are available in the EDRS database.
Expanded Academic Interdisciplinary database which includes many full-text, peer-reviewed
sources.
Health and Psychosocial Instruments Access to information on measurement instruments in
the health sciences.
Health Reference Center Academic Full-text journal articles in health and related sciences.
ICPSR Data sets in the social sciences from academic researchers throughout the U.S.
LLBA Language & Linguistics Behavior Abstracts coverage includes psycholinguistics and
language acquisition.
Medline Coverage of biomedical literature, including neurosciences, from 1966 to the present.
Mental Measurements Yearbook Descriptions and critical reviews of over 2000 English
language achievement and intelligence tests.
PsychInfo Indexes the journal literature of psychology from 1872-present, and includes many
full-text articles.
Social Sciences Citation Index/Web of Science Provides access to the ISI citation indexes and
cited reference listings for leading peer-reviewed research journals in the social sciences.
Sociological Abstracts Citations and abstracts of over 2,000 sociological journals.


Prepared by Barbara Hillson, Psychology Liaison Librarian, December 2003

    Barbara Hillson
    Reference Liaison Librarian
    Public and International Affairs/Public Policy/Psychology
    Fenwick Library
    George Mason University
    Fairfax, VA 22030-4444