Why Start With Dictionaries & Encyclopedias?
Dictionaries provide short definitions or terminology or a brief overview of a person. Encyclopedias contain longer essays that provide a more in-depth, authoritative articles on your topic and help you identify essential readings in the field. Both are useful for clarifying terms or concepts that you are less familiar with, and for identifying keywords to use when searching for more information.
These resources are a great place to start your research.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries. Linked titles are available online.
- Oxford Research Encyclopedia of PsychologyOnline only. New and revised articles added on an ongoing basis.
"[A] unique resource for those who need to navigate this daunting network of ideas, findings, and practice. Psychology is one of the most popular university subjects, and the ORE enables students at all levels to access authoritative and up-to-date articles that take them beyond textbook treatments while providing more synthesis than the primary research literature. For Researchers, the ORE provides routes into areas that may not be their primary focus but provide essential context, new methods, and thought-provoking analogies for their work. Scholars in adjacent disciplines – philosophy, medicine, linguistics, anthropology, law and many others – can discover how modern psychology tackles questions at the interface with their subjects." - Letter from the Editor
APA Dictionary of Psychology by Call Number: Olin Library Reference BF31 .A63 2007 +ISBN: 1591473802Publication Date: 2006-07-15With over 25,000 terms and definitions, the APA Dictionary of Psychology encompasses all areas of research and application, and includes coverage of concepts, processes, and therapies across all the major subdisciplines of psychology. Balanced coverage of over 100 subject areas across the field of psychology including clinical, experimental, neuropsychology, cognitive, personality and social, developmental, health, psychopharmacology, methodology and statistics, and many others.
The Corsini Encyclopedia of PsychologyCall Number: Library Annex BF 31 .E56 2010 +Publication Date: 2010The latest update of this comprehensive encyclopedia that includes both brief descriptive and biographical entries and longer analytical essays. Entries are individually authored, and often include cross-references and bibliographies. Volume 4 contains brief biographies for all the article authors and the author and subject indexes for the whole set.
Dictionary of Concepts in General Psychology by Call Number: Library Annex BF 31 .P83 1988Publication Date: 1988Explains the major organizing concepts and ideas in the field of psychology. Lengthy articles give the historical development of the concept and its current meaning. Useful bibliographies with each article trace the history and development of each idea/concept.
A Dictionary of Psychology by Call Number: Olin Library Reference BF 31 .C65 2015Publication Date: 2015An authoritative and up-to-date dictionary covers all branches of psychology. Clear, concise descriptions for each entry offer extensive coverage of key areas including cognition, sensation and perception, emotion and motivation, learning and skills, language, mental disorder, and research methods. Over 9,500 entries.
Dictionary of Theories, Laws, and Concepts in PsychologyCall Number: Olin Library Reference BF 31 .R625x 1998Publication Date: 1998A companion and update to Popplestone's Dictionary of Concepts in General Psychology.
Encyclopedia of Human Behavior by Call Number: Olin Library Stacks Oversize BF 31 .E54 1994 +; Mann Library, BF31 .E55 1994Publication Date: 1994Lengthy, signed essays written by acknowledged experts in the field present an overview of research on each topic. Each essay provides a concise selected bibliography. Now somewhat dated.
Encyclopedia of Human EmotionsCall Number: Olin Library Reference BF 531 .E55x 1999 +; Mann Library, BF531 .E55x 1999Publication Date: 1999Contains 146 alphabetical entries, written by academic researchers who study emotions or treat emotional disorders. Entries include bibliographies for further research.
Encyclopedia of PsychologyCall Number: Olin Library Reference BF 31 .E52x 2000 +Publication Date: 2000Rivaled Corsini as the primary encyclopedia of psychology in 2001, but now becoming dated. Regards itself as "unmatched in... scope, scholarship, and expertise." (Preface) Includes biographical entries.
International Encyclopedia of Social SciencesCall Number: Olin Library Reference H 40.A2 I61 2008 +Publication Date: 2008Revised and updated edition of the 17-volume International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences that appeared in 1968. A standard and reliable resource.
International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral SciencesCall Number: Olin Library H 41 .I58 2015 +Publication Date: 2015Online version continuously updated.
The best current subject encyclopedia embracing all disciplines in the social sciences. Includes several thousand signed articles, over 90,000 bibliographic references, and 150 biographical entries.
The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive SciencesCall Number: Olin Library Reference BF 311 .M556x 1999Publication Date: 1999An interdisciplinary encyclopedia that uses research from psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, evolutionary biology, computer science, and ethology to build a detailed cognitive science perspective. Detailed and technical.- Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective SciencesCall Number: Olin Library Reference BF 531 .O984 2009Publication Date: 2009"...a resource for all who wish to find out about theories, concepts, methods, and research findings in this rapidly growing interdisciplinary field—one that brings together, amongst others, psychologists, neuroscientists, social scientists, philosophers, and historians." -- APA PsycNet
The Oxford Companion to the MindCall Number: Olin Library Reference BF 31 .O94 2004Publication Date: 2004Provides signed definitions by numerous authorities on various aspects of the mind, including psychology, biology, and philosophy. Longer articles include references for further reading. There are selected biographies and useful illustrations and diagrams.- The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of Modern PsychologyPublication Date: 2022Essays help us understand how our contemporary sense of self and identity were formed across a variety of demographics.
- The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences byPublication Date: 2009The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences provides college and university students with a highly accessible, curriculum-driven reference work, both in print and on-line, defining the major terms needed to achieve fluency in the social and behavioral sciences. Comprehensive and inclusive, its interdisciplinary scope covers such varied fields as anthropology, communication and media studies, criminal justice, economics, education, geography, human services, management, political science, psychology, and sociology. In addition, while not a discipline, methodology is at the core of these fields and thus receives due and equal consideration. At the same time we strive to be comprehensive and broad in scope, we recognize a need to be compact, accessible, and affordable. Thus the work is organized in A-to-Z fashion and kept to a single volume of approximately 600 to 700 pages.
