Research Guides: Psychology: 1) Form your topic

1) Form your topic

With so many topics to choose from, deciding what to write about for your research assignment can induce anxiety.

On this page, you will find a couple of short videos on the process as well as resources for finding background or reference information about the topics you may be considering.

On the next page, 2) Craft your search, you will learn how to transform your topic into a research question and then how to transform your research question into an effective search strategy.

Don't Panic! Watch This (Run-time: 3 minutes, 11 seconds)

4 Steps to Designing your Topic (Run-time: 50 seconds)

Background Information

Reference works, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks, provide background information on a topic and are especially useful at the beginning of a research project. They can help you get an overview of a topic, gather fast facts, define terms, theories, and people in an area, focus your argument and find further readings written by experts in the field.

The following online reference works are recommended for gathering background information in Social Work and Psychology:

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Online collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources, quotations, bilingual dictionaries, and measurement conversions covering topics from the arts to the sciences.
Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
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Oxford Bibliographies presents constantly updated articles that contain citations (with annotations) and commentaries for sources across the disciplines. Users can search topics and gather relevant journal article and book citations, online resources, data sources, and more.

Social Workers' Desk Reference by Albert R. Roberts (Editor-In-Chief); Kevin Corcoran (Editor-In-Chief)
With 159 chapters collaboratively written by luminaries in the profession, this comprehensive guide provides the most recent conceptual knowledge and empirical evidence to aid in the understanding of the rapidly changing field of social work. Each chapter is short and contains practical information in addition to websites and updated references.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) by American Psychiatric Association
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, is the most comprehensive, current, and critical resource for clinical practice available to today's mental health clinicians and researchers of all orientations. The information contained in the manual is also valuable to other physicians and health professionals, including psychologists, counselors, nurses, and occupational and rehabilitation therapists, as well as social workers and forensic and legal specialists.