Guides: PSY 347 Animal Behavior Lab: Find Sources

Forming your Search String

The more complicated your question, the less likely a search engine can understand it. To get the best result, identify keywords and like terms to create a search string.

Example research question: How does training reduce aggressive behavior in dogs?

Keywords: Behavior training, aggressive behavior, dogs

Like terms can include synonyms and also examples of your keywords. If you don't get results from searching your keywords, it doesn't mean that the research doesn't exist. It could mean that the researcher used different language to describe the same topic

Training: positive reinforcement, behavior modification
Aggressive behavior: animal aggressive behavior, threat postures, animal dominance, territoriality
Dogs: canine, retrievers, shih tzu

Search strings connect your keywords and like terms together for the best results.

Too many results? Use AND to narrow results

aggressive behavior AND training AND dogs

Too few results? Use OR to broaden results

aggressive behavior OR threat posture OR territoriality AND training OR positive reinforcement AND dog OR canine

students reading in front of periodical display

Also known as peer-reviewed articles, scholarly articles are sources that are:

written by experts in the field
reviewed by other experts in the field (hence the peer-reviewed)
intended for an academic audience

While you can find scholarly articles through general search engines, databases contain a feature where you can narrow your results to only scholarly articles.

Find Subject-Specific Articles:

APA PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
World's largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. Produced by the American Psychological Association, it includes more than 4 million bibliographic records and indexing of more than 2,500 journals.
OneFile: Psychology This link opens in a new window
Provides access to authoritative periodical content supporting research in all fields of psychology— abnormal, biological, cognitive, comparative, developmental, personality, quantitative, social and all areas of applied psychology. Discover relevant information from the thoughts, views, discoveries, and reports found in this comprehensive collection.
Formerly called Psychology Collection
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed comprises more than 30 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
For search by Publication Type, see PubMed's subject term guide: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/pubtypes.html
BioOne Complete This link opens in a new window
Search and browse bioscience research journals published by small societies and other not-for-profit organizations. BioOne Complete is an initiative to provide access to journals focused on the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy This link opens in a new window
Search a subset of Gale Academic OneFile journals and Delmar reference titles covering environmental issues and policies, including diverse perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policy makers, as well as corporate interests.
Formerly called Environmental Studies and Policy Collection
OneFile: Agriculture This link opens in a new window
Search a subset of Gale Academic OneFile journals and Delmar reference titles focused on agriculture and related fields.
Formerly called Agriculture Collection

Find Articles in Multidisciplinary Databases:

Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Ultimate offers access to resources cited in key subject indexes. The combination of academic journals, magazines, periodicals, reports, books and videos meets the needs of scholars in virtually every discipline ranging from astronomy, anthropology, biomedicine, engineering, health, law and literacy to mathematics, pharmacology, women’s studies, zoology and more.
Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
Provides millions of articles from over 17,000 scholarly journals and other authoritative sources—including thousands of podcasts and transcripts from NPR and CNN as well as videos from BBC Worldwide Learning. Includes extensive coverage in key subject areas such as biology, chemistry, economics, environmental science, history, marketing, political science, and psychology.

Student thumbing through a book in front of library stacks

Books and eBooks often provide a broader overview and cover more information than a scholarly journal article.

You don't need to read an entire book to use it in your research. Use the index at the back of a book to find the information you need.

To find books and eBooks, you can either:

Search the NOBLE catalog

NOBLE Catalog Search
Search the Jenks Library catalog for books, eBooks, audiobooks, scores, etc.

Or browse the stacks for a book related to your topic

QL750-795: Animal behavior
SF1-1100: Animal culture
BF660-685: Comparative psychology. Animal and human psychology

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
World Wildlife Fund
HABRI Central
HABRI Central is an online platform for open research and collaboration into the relationships between humans and animals, specifically companion animals.
Dr. Temple Grandin's Website
Studies on livestock behavior, design of facilities and humane slaughter
Animal Legal & Historical Center from Michigan State University
On this site you will find a comprehensive repository of information about animal law.

If you find an article or book that you can't access, don't pay for it! Instead, submit an Interlibrary Loan request, and you'll receive articles within a few days!

Interlibrary Loan: Article & Book Request
Can't find the article or book you're looking for at Gordon? Fill out the Interlibrary Loan request form and we'll track the article or book down for you!

Are you looking for a specific article, like an article that you found referenced in a bibliography? Search for the journal in Journal Finder, linked below:

Browse Journal Finder
Find individual journals and search within specific publications.