Psychology: Locate Sources

Locate Sources 

This page contains information about locating sources. 

Where to Start:

1. Begin with UC Library Search - enables broad searching. It searches materials in all UC Libraries, including books and ebooks, journals, maps, government documents, films, musical scores, manuscripts, and images, plus citations and full-text articles from hundreds of additional databases.

2. Expand your search using subject-specific databases - enables deep searching. Subject-specific databases allow you to search within a specific field or expert source. 

Any database with a blue lock icon requires VPN when working off campus.

Search Tips 

• Sign in to access full results lists, electronic resources, request items, and save records. To access electronic resources, you must be logged into the VPN if connecting from off-campus.
• Capitalize the operators AND, OR, and NOT when combining key search terms.
• Selecting "Held by Library" under the Availability filter to limit or print sources.
• Filter by Resource type to limit to books, articles, conference proceedings, etc.

If we don't own a particular resource, the Library can borrow it for you from other libraries for free. And they will have it sent to the UC San Diego Library location of your choice. Choose a request option under the Get It heading.

Journal Search

• To see a list of all the journals for your discipline, type in the UC Library Search search box "[subject area] -- Periodicals"
  • E.g., psychology -- Periodicals
• To search for articles within a journal:
  • Search for the journal title in UC Library Search
  • Click on the journal title
  • Then look for "Search inside" on the left side (if available) to easily search for articles with a specific topic within that journal. 

Note: The Journal of Experimental Psychology has a general journal as well as many offshoots that focus on particular sub-disciplines. Please be conscious of this when searching for the journal or articles within. 

Dissertation and Theses

• In the UC Library Search box, type "dissertations, academic -- UCSD -- [department or subject area]"
  • E.g., dissertations, academic -- UCSD -- psychology

List of Annual Reviews

• To see a list of annual reviews for your discipline, type in the UC Library Search search box "[subject area] -- annual review"
  • E.g., psychology -- annual review

Get the Full-text of an Article 

The full text of an article is provided in multiple formats. Look for:

• An HTML link
• PDF link
• Link to Get it at UC

The Get it at UC link will provide you with options for accessing the full text of the article. If there are no online links available, you need to request the item through Interlibrary Loan if a print version is unavailable at UC San Diego. The Library will deliver the full text of an article to you free of charge. When requesting, you will need your Library ID number.

Your library card/account number begins with "21822" and can be found on the back of your UCSD ID card or within the UCSD app. Enter the 14-digit number without spaces.

Set up Google Scholar for full-text access

1. scholar.google.com
2. Click Settings at the top of the browser window
3. Choose Library Links from the left-side menu
4. Search for University of California, San Diego - Get it at UC
5. Mark the check box next to the option
6. Save

When you search for articles, you will now see a secondary column with additional links on the right.  Where you see Get it at UC, you may click that link and it will take you to the article through the library databases.

(Note: You MUST be logged into the VPN (see home page of this guide), when you choose an article)