PSY 101: General Psychology (Balbag): Scholarly Sources

1. Start by writing a short description of your topic, such as:

How can people use psychology to address racism?

2. Next, identify the key concepts of your topic, and brainstorm alternate terms. Search APA PsycINFO for each concept individually to see the Subject Heading terms that are associated with articles.

For example: Psychology, racism

3. Use OR to indicate alternative terms and synonyms. For example:

Psychology AND (racism OR prejudice OR bias)

(racism OR prejudice OR bias) AND (interventions OR therapy OR treatment OR strategies)

4. Use the asterisk (*) to find different variations of search terms:

Psycholog* will find: Psychology, Psychological, Psychologists...

Note: You don't necessarily need to include Psycholog* in a search of APA PsycInfo, but this search term could be a useful addition to searches in non-psychology databases

Raci* will find: Racial, Racist, Racists, Racism

5. The improved search strategy might be

(raci* OR prejudice OR bias) AND (interven* OR therap* OR treat* OR strateg*)

Racism
Racial Bias
Racial Disparities
Racial Microaggression
Race and Ethnic Discrimination
Systemic Racism

Intervention
Psychological Theories
Psychosocial Interventions
Social Psychology

Educational Access
Equal Education
Socioeconomic Disparities

Mental Health
Quality of Life
Sense of Purpose
Well Being