Introduction to Social Work (PSYC/SOCI 3110): Home

A database of full-text articles from journals published by the American Psychological Association, the APA Educational Publishing Foundation, the Canadian Psychological Association, and Hogrefe & Huber.

The industry standard resource for psychological research. The index links to fulltext databases for direct access to peer reviewed literature.

A video collection featuring prominent therapists demonstrating techniques and commenting on their work.

How to Search Databases Effectively

1. Start with a Clear Research Question

Begin by defining what you’re looking for. Turn your topic into a clear research question or statement. For example:
Topic: Social media and mental health
Question: How does social media use affect mental health in teenagers?

2. Identify Keywords

Pick out the most important words from your research question. These are your keywords.
Example keywords:

• social media

• mental health

• teenagers

Use synonyms or related terms to expand your search.
Example synonyms:

• social networking, Instagram, TikTok

• emotional well-being, anxiety, depression

• adolescents, youth, young people

3. Use Truncation

Truncation helps you find words that start with the same root. Use an asterisk (*) at the end of the root word.

Examples:

• educat = education, educator, educational

• teen = teen, teens, teenager, teenagers

This broadens your search and helps you find more relevant results.

4. Use Boolean Logic

Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) help you combine or exclude search terms:

• AND narrows your search. All terms must be present.
  Example: social media AND mental health

• OR broadens your search. Either term can be present.
  Example: teenagers OR adolescents

• NOT excludes a term.
  Example: social media NOT Facebook

Use parentheses to group terms:
(teenagers OR adolescents) AND (anxiety OR depression)

5. Apply Filters

Once you’ve searched, use database filters to narrow your results by:

• Publication date

• Peer-reviewed articles

• Subject area

• Language

6. Review and Revise

If you’re not getting useful results:

• Try different keywords or synonyms

• Adjust your Boolean logic

• Use truncation to expand your results

Why Citation Matters (and How to Do It in APA 7)

Why You Should Cite Sources

Citing your sources is essential for:

• Giving credit to original authors and researchers

• Avoiding plagiarism (using someone else’s ideas as your own)

• Strengthening your work with evidence and expert support

• Helping readers find your sources if they want to learn more

Basic APA 7 Citation Guide

In-Text Citations
Include the author's last name and the year of publication:

• Narrative citation: According to Smith (2021), social media impacts sleep.

• Parenthetical citation: Social media impacts sleep (Smith, 2021).

Direct quotes also need a page number:

• “Teens lose sleep due to late-night scrolling” (Jones, 2020, p. 45).

Reference List (at the end of your paper)
Here are examples of common source types:

• Book:
  Smith, J. A. (2020). The psychology of connection. Oxford University Press.

• Journal Article:
  Lopez, M. T., & Kim, S. Y. (2022). The effects of TikTok on adolescent attention. Journal of Youth Research, 15(2), 113–129. https://doi.org/10.1234/jyr.v15i2.6789

• Website:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, March 5). Teen mental health trends. https://www.cdc.gov/teenmentalhealth

Tips:

• Double-space your reference list

• Use a hanging indent

• Alphabetize by author’s last name

For further information and detailed examples, please visit the Purdue OWL guide