SDCC Library: Psychology: Home

Psychology

"Psychology is a behavioral science that emphasizes the understanding of behavior (feelings, actions, and thoughts) of individuals. It should be noted that psychology typically focuses on the study of humans though psychologists have interests in other species."

Learn more about the Psychology program at SDCC. This library guide highlights some of the resources at SDCC Library that support your studies in Psychology.

E-Books

Gale e-Books

(Gale) Formerly called Gale Virtual Reference Library. Reference books, including encyclopedias, almanacs, and biographical books. Full text. See help guide: Using e-Books: Gale

Gale ebooks has many quality encyclopedias you can search all at once or individually including but not limited to:

Abnormal Psychology through the Ages
Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology
Encyclopedia of Sport and Exercise Psychology
Psychology and Behavioral Health

JSTOR

(JSTOR) Covers arts & sciences and the life sciences. JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Note: The journal collections are "archived" collections, which means this database has the complete run of each journal starting with its first issue up until a certain date, usually excluding the most recent years.

JSTOR is primarily articles but has numerous recently published books as well.

Use the Advanced Search: Leave "Content I can Access" as the default. Scroll down and click on the option for Books before you do your searching. If you don't you will find both books and articles, which may be a great thing.

E-Books from SDCCD Books+

To search for e-books available through SDCC Library, start on our home page.

Click SDCCD Books+
Click Advanced Search
Type in your search term(s) like depression, stress, happiness, family dynamics...
Press SEARCH
Now Refine your Search Results appears in the left column
Click on Available Online

NOTE: Do NOT refine your search by clicking on the filter for SD City College. Sometimes this omits books to which we have access.

E-Books free to all on the web (a selected few)

Between Psychology and Philosophy (2020) by Michael Slote of University of Miami
Psychology (2014) by Speilman, Dumper, Jenkins and others [OpenStax]
Research Methods in Psychology (2019) by Jhangiani, Chiang, & Price [OpenEd]

Articles

Access databases containing articles through our A-Z Databases List.

1) Select from category, resource type, vendor, or alphabetical by database title.

Scroll down for a quick look at the topics in each database. EBSCO’s Academic Search Complete is a robust database with articles on just about everything and is often a good place to start.
Some databases include articles from journals magazines and newspapers as well as books. If you are unsure what kind of resource you have, ask us on 24/7 chat on our home page or ask your instructor.
The databases that say they include “scholarly or peer reviewed” resources may also contain popular resources. If so, it is likely you will find a way to limit to either the scholarly/peer reviewed sources or the popular sources.

2) Choose a database and use its Advanced Search

Use your topic terms and alternative terms when searching. For example, if you are interested in
- depression ⇒ also search for major depressive disorder
- family dynamics ⇒ also search for parent child relationship, child abuse survivor, adult children of alcoholics

Librarians can help you find the right search terms.

Access FREE articles on the web:

PubMed Central
Access articles free one web via the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.For best results use the Advanced Search.
Directory of Open Access Journal
Access about 12,000 full-text scholarly journals

Videos

Access to City College streaming videos is through our A-Z Databases List.

Select the Filter by Resource Type dropdown menu.
Select Video and click the blue Filter button to see a list of video collections

Here are a few video collections that might be relevant to topics in Psychology:

Film Platform Collection

(Alexander Street/PQ) Streaming video collection of 400+ titles, curated for academic audiences. Includes selections from prestigious film festivals plus many OSCAR®-nominated and OSCAR®-shortlisted documentaries. Click the red filter button to sort the catalog.

Captioning
All titles should be captioned. Please contact citylib@sdccd.edu if you find one that is not.
Public Performance Rights (to show outside the classroom)
"In the case of content that can potentially be publicly performed, Customer must secure permission from ProQuest’s Licensor and/or the copyright holder for any public performance other than reasonable classroom and educational uses."
Films on Demand

(Infobase Learning) Streaming video collection of over 36,000 full-length videos and 275,000 video clips on a variety of subject areas. Includes documentaries and collections from BBC, California Newsreel, History Channel, HBO, Frontline, Ken Burns, Modern Marvels and many, many more. Find these three videos by title in the search box: California State of Mind, Paywall, and The Pushouts.

Captioning
Captioning available *except* for non-English-language videos and videos without dialogue; recently-added videos may take up to 3 weeks to get captioned.
Public Performance Rights (to show outside the classroom)
"Permitted Uses of the Web Platform: The Web Platform is licensed solely to Licensee and Authorized Users for classroom teaching, research, presentations, and educational non-commercial multimedia projects for use in educational institutions, provided no admission or other fees are charged for public viewing. Licensee and Authorized Users may stream, display, publicly perform, or exhibit the Video Titles asynchronously on a single computer or network, course management system, or password-protected Web Platform. Licensee and Authorized Users may electronically save, organize, and share Video Titles or parts thereof with other Authorized Users using tools provided with the Web Platform. Licensee may create and distribute transcripts." Click for Terms of Service
Swank Digital Campus
(Swank) Streaming video collection of 300 feature films from major Hollywood studios and other producers. Title list may change periodically due to licensing issues.
NOTE: The following films have restricted access and may not show up in a search of this database. If not, please send a request to your instructor or to citylib@sdccd.edu to get a link for student access:
- Barbie
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
- The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
- The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Captioning
All videos in this collection should be captioned. Please contact citylib@sdccd.edu if you find one that is not.
Public Performance Rights (to show outside the classroom)
Per our contract, "The Titles in this license do not include public performance." Campus events not tied to a credit-bearing class are considered public performance and would require purchase of public performance rights. Contact citylib@sdccd.edu to get information on licensing from the vendor (per day, per location, per title basis).

Psychological Tests, Scales and Questionnaires

ERIC
Find questionnaires attached to a study by using the Advanced Search function in the database. After putting a term in the search box, select the Filter tab and then the Document Type dropdown item: Tests/Questionnaires. Then hit the blue Search button at the bottom of the page.

Psychology Tools
"Psychology Tools is a free to use website dedicated to providing psychology professionals, students, and the general public with transparent access to academically validated psychological assessment tools. We strive to provide test, questionnaires, and assessments in the most streamlined format possible, through a simple interface coupled with automatic scoring. We only use assessments derived from scholarly psychological journals which have a history of practical application. Our automatic scoring system is designed to save time, prevent human error, and demystify the scoring process. Our results include both raw scores and indicative score ranges wherever possible." --web site description
PsyToolkit
"PsyToolkit is a free-to-use toolkit for demonstrating, programming, and running cognitive-psychological experiments and surveys, including personality tests. PsyToolkit is frequently used for academic studies, for student projects, and for teaching cognitive and personality psychology." --web site description
UCSD Tests & Measures LibGuide
The resources listed in this UCSD guide may not be affiliated with SDCC Library but can give you an idea of what is available for tests and measures. If you see a book that looks good, try searching its title in SDCCD Books+ to see if we have it. Otherwise, you can go to UCSD Geisel Library and use their resources as a member of the general public.

APA Publication Style

APA Format at the OWL
Skip the Chegg advertisement and see the explanations of how this style works.
English Center
Provides a community-based learning environment to help City College students become more effective, confident, and independent readers, writers and critical thinkers by fostering mastery of the material, stimulating active learning, and increasing self-confidence.

Get Research Help

For simple questions about the library, email us at citylib@sdccd.edu

Get help finding the books and articles you need via 24/ chat with a librarian (floating chat box)

Learn how to do research from these resources:

Library Research Process: A Tutorial
Information Literacy: Basic Research Skills (a free OER text book written for community college students like you)

Stop by the City College Library (R Building) during business hours and discuss what you need with a faculty-librarian at the Information Desk (reference). Or call us at 619-388-3288.

Websites

Websites

Classics in the History of Psychology from York University Toronto
Oxford Research Encyclopedias (ORE) Provides an extremely good paragraph overview/definitions for free, but restricts the full encyclopedia entry to fee paying customers.

Dictionary

This e-edition of DIctionary of Psychology is offered from the American Psychological Association. (APA)

LIBRARY

Psychology