Counseling: New Student Guide

Why journals?

Journals are important because they:

• contain original research 
• are usually more current than other resources (e.g. books, encyclopedias)
• may have passed a quality control process known as "peer review"

Where can I find articles from these scholarly journals?

Journal articles are found by searching some sort of online database. To find articles on a counseling topic, you may use:

• PsycInfo (database with extensive coverage of journals in counseling, psychology, psychiatry, and related areas).
• Other useful databases as listed in the Counseling Research Guide. 
• Google Scholar (lacks some of the content and features that PsycInfo offers but can be used as a starting point. Follow up in PsycInfo and other relevant databases when you need to do a comprehensive search of the literature.)

Where can I find articles from counseling-oriented journals?

Many journals with a counseling-oriented focus can be found through using PsycInfo, Google Scholar, and other online databases. To see a list of ones that are available through the library, visit the ACA Journals page in the Counseling Research Guide.

How can I learn to use databases such as PsycInfo to find articles on a topic?

Help with searching is available from many sources, including:

• in the database you are searching (look for a Help link, often at the top of the page)
• instructional materials such as videos on the Internet
• librarians at Webster University (see our contact elsewhere on this page)

Here are links to some videos on using PsycInfo: