Research Guides: Psychology Research Guide: PSYC 215 Fall 2025

Library Research in Child Development

Library Instruction Quick Reference

You need	A minimum of ten (10) scholarly, peer-reviewed references (only journal articles) Theory or model related to child development (with a focus on middle childhood to adolescence)
Resources to use	One or more of the following from the Databases & Online Resources list Child Development & Adolescent Studies ERIC PsycINFO Dictionaries or encyclopedias that describe psychological theories or models
Handout	Library Research in Child Development (PDF)

Important Links

Child Development & Adolescent Studies
Source for references to the current and historical literature related to growth and development of children through the age of 21.
ERIC (EBSCOhost)
Index of journal articles, books, theses, curriculum guides, conference papers, standards, and guidelines on a wide range of education topics. Sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education.
PsycInfo
References to articles, books, and more on the psychological, social, and behavioral sciences, 1806 to present.

You need to identify a model to serve as a foundation for your research in this course. Here are some resources to try:

Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories
Call Number: AVAILABLE ONLINE

ISBN: 9780444517500

The dictionary will contain approximately 2,000 terms covering the origination, development, and evolution of various psychological concepts, as well as the historical definition, analysis, and criticisms of psychological concepts.
Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories
Call Number: AVAILABLE ONLINE

ISBN: 9781441904638

Survey the entire range of thinking in psychology, from ancient times to the present, encompassing philosophies and theories of mind that pre-date our modern conception of psychology as a science, and extending to the current findings of neuroscience.

The Top 3 Tips for Accessing Online Resources at NEIU

If you remember only 3 things, let it be these:

Always, always, always start your research at the NEIU Libraries home page.
Our catalog and A-Z databases list provide special links that identify you as an NEIU student.
Use your NEIU NetID and password to log in to library resources if off campus.
UTS refers to this as your "User ID" (as opposed to the NEIU ID number, which they call the "University ID"). Neither of these is your email address. Leave off the @neiu.edu.
Frustrated? Ask for help!
Sometimes our systems can be a little confusing. Not finding what you need? Contact me!

Basic Database Searching

"Database"?

NEIU Libraries subscribes to dozens of search tools that are not freely available online. We pay annual subscription fees for these resources. You can access them anytime, from anywhere with your NEIU NetID and password.

Why use these?

The content can be limited to peer-reviewed or scholarly journals, which is what many instructors want you to use in academic papers.
Databases offer advanced search features that make searching more efficient.
Many of the subscriptions include full text articles.

How do I choose?

Consider the level of the course.
Consider the type of information you want.
Consider how many references you need.

Find the Full Text of an Article

If you start your search at the NEIU Libraries homepage, the links you follow will identify you as an NEIU user. This will help simplify linking to our resources.

Once you do a search in an article database, use links like these to get the full text of the article:

They will link you to the NEIU Libraries catalog and let you know if we have a subscription to the article, making it available immediately via a link.

If the full text of an article is not available online, you will be directed to request a copy of the article through WorldShare interlibrary loan. Learn more about WorldShare, which you can access with your NEIU NetID and password.