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Psychology Research Guide

Resources for students in Psychology courses at Pasadena City College

Coming Up with Search Terms

Search Strategies

1.   Brainstorm keywords and synonyms. Examples...  

  • aggression
  • video games
  • violence
  • children

Don't forget to check the PsycARTICLES thesaurus!

PsycARTICLES thesaurus

2.   Use AND to focus your search on a smaller result set. Examples... 

  •  video games AND violence
  •  teenagers AND social media AND loneliness

3.  Use OR to link synonyms and gain a larger result set. Examples... 

  • Facebook AND [teenagers OR adolescents OR youth]
  • technology AND [overuse OR addiction]

4.  Put quotations around your terms for exact searches
       
  Example: "self esteem"

                          "social media"
                       

Develop a research plan

ASK QUESTIONS TO DEFINE YOUR TOPIC Or    A 'concept map' may be helpful: 

 Who?        What?       Where?       When?          

             Why?         How?          So What?

What is the definition?

What other words could be used to research this topic?

What are some causes ?

What are some results or consequences ?

What larger social or political issues are related to this topic?

research concept map showing a large circle reading 'what is required?' with smaller circles overlapping it with labels such as 'definition' and 'recent examples'[source https://classweb.gmu.edu/WAC/adjguide/academic_papers/identifying.html]