The search platforms presented on this page are research tools you can use to find scholarly information online. They are either provided by the library or available free of charge on the web, and they are categorized by type under the tabs below. Click on a tab, then scroll down the page to review the listed tools, proceed with your research using the access links, and find additional tools for help and guidance.
Please email the PAU librarians if you need further assistance: librarian@paloaltou.edu.
Search online for the scholarly information required for literature searches using the library's subscription database platforms. Click on the accordions below for information about these platforms, then click on the links for access and help. PAU login is required for platform access as well as for downloading electronic content.
Targeted database searching can be very useful to researchers, so the library provides an annotated list of all PAU databases expressly for this purpose. Our list of databases is presented in the library guide linked below and is arranged alphabetically for browsing. It can also be searched by title, keyword, subject, type, or vendor. You will find all of the digital materials available through the PAU library using these links, including books, articles, videos, dissertations, and much, much more!
Search all EBSCO databases simultaneously to find articles in psychology, counseling, business, medicine, education,and general sociological and historical subjects using the EBSCOhost platform. Includes Medline (PubMed), ERIC (education), Business Source Complete, Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print,all American Psychological Association (APA) databases (e.g.,PsycINFO and PsycTESTS), and many counseling journals. Also included are eBook collections, encyclopedias, Associated Press photos, newspapers, and magazines, as well as additional databases covering medicine, nursing, and consumer health.
Search all ProQuest/Clarivate databases simultaneously, including ProQuest One Psychology, Alexander Street Press Counseling, and Sociological Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts. ProQuest One Psychology is a broad, user-friendly resource designed to support the unique needs of psychology and counseling in research, teaching, and learning; content is organized to align with how psychology faculty and students approach common assignments, research questions, and methodologies. ProQuest/Clarivate databases include diverse content types such as journals, therapy videos, counseling transcripts, news, dissertations, and more to support research in psychology, counseling, and social work.
Search Nexis Uni™, which features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents. This is the go-to search platform for media, business, and legal reports.
The library subscribes to WorldCat Discovery for managing its resource collections, which include books, eBooks, DVDs, streaming videos, electronic journals, and more! This library catalog platform offers a variety of search options for locating scholarly information to address a wide range of academic needs. PAU login is required for accessing full-text materials, but you can search without logging in.
You can begin your search for library materials in WorldCat Discovery using the second search box on the library website, or by navigating there directly.
WorldCat Discovery will launch a basic library catalog search by default. You can click on one of the advanced search links for more complex search options.
Use our Introduction to the Library guide for assistance with basic search methods and advanced search methods in WorldCat Discovery.
Use WorldCat Discovery to identify PAU journals by title or ISSN. Online access in full text is available within the subscription date range(s) indicated for each journal. You can also search for specific articles and eBooks using citation information, or you can browse alphabetical lists of our online resource collection titles, eBook titles, and journal titles. Select the corresponding tab and button displayed at the top of the page to get started.
The library subscribes to specialized search platforms for accessing archived research data and authoritative reference information to support academic assignments, research, and clinical practice. Click on the accordions below for information about these platforms, then click on the links for access and help. PAU login is required for access.
The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is an international consortium of 800+ academic and research institutions that hosts sets of archival data from 350,000+ social and behavioral science research files.
The library subscribes to this valuable collection of specialized datasets. Refer to our Datasets library guide for instructions on access and use, as well as for information about other vetted dataset sources.
Find text and multimedia sources through American Psychiatric Association Publishing, including the DSM Library.
Search for commercially available tools to assess a specific symptom, disorder, or characteristic using the Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print, a publication of the Buros Center for Testing.
Oxford Clinical Psychology provides full-text access to hundreds of titles within the field of clinical psychology. Among the extensive list of high-quality researched content are professional reference books and the prominent Treatments That Work series.
This collection of eBooks, published by the American Psychological Association and other distinguished publishers, offers individual chapters for download in PDF format. It includes digitized content of historical significance from the Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP) collection.
APA PsycTests is the American Psychological Association's repository of psychological assessment instruments used for research. This database of tests, measures, scales, surveys, and other assessment instruments includes descriptive information about each item and its development and administration, as well as information on how to find it.
The APA Dictionary of Psychology contains thousands of reliable definition entries across a vast array of psychology subfields.
CREDO Reference provides biographies, encyclopedias, dictionaries, geographical information, and more. With curated topical pages that offer definitions and opposing viewpoints, get connected to an array of informational sources through CREDO.
The search platforms discussed below are available for conducting scholarly research on the open Web, free of charge. Click on the accordions for more information, then click on the links for access and help.
Google Scholar is a freely accessible search engine that can pull a myriad of resources across disciplines, including dissertations, grey literature, articles, and books. This can be an important resource for tracking citations, exploring the works of authors, and locating related works that are pertinent to your research. Use our Google Scholar library guide, linked below, to learn more about using this tool for your research.
Use Google Books to search the world's most comprehensive index of full-text books. For full-text results, select the corresponding option from the "Any view" dropdown menu. Use the link below for help with frequently asked questions.
JSTOR is a digital library of academic content in many formats and disciplines. The collections include top peer-reviewed scholarly journals as well as respected literary journals, academic monographs, research reports from trusted institutes, and diverse primary sources. The library provides subscription access to some of JSTOR's paid content. However, anyone can set up a JSTOR account to read up to 100 eligible articles over 30 days for free online and access all of JSTOR's open and free content.
ERIC is a comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information. The ERIC website is offered free for public use by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education.
PubMed is a database of more than 36 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. These citations may include links to full text content from other sources, such as PubMed Central and publisher web sites. Some of these links may also come up in a Google Scholar search; however, if a document has a PMID (PubMed Identification Number), you can very easily search it on the PubMed site to quickly locate the citation and download any free content, including author manuscripts and institutional repository copies.
ResearchGate is a for-profit academic profile and social networking site designed for sharing research. It offers researchers and scientists the opportunity to post PDF copies of their articles (subject to contractual terms and conditions) for free access to the scholarly community. ResearchGate articles can oftentimes be found in a Google Scholar search, but more elusive articles can requested by contacting the author directly through the ResearchGate site. A free account is required for access.
Academia is a for-profit online platform that contracts with researchers and scientists, allowing them to share copies of their articles for online viewing by registered users. User registration requires signing up for a free account. Read-only content may be view on the platform, which can also be used for contacting authors to request their articles directly. This is a good strategy for locating hard-to-find items. While Academia does provide some free full-text content for download, and the links can sometimes be found using Google Scholar, a paid premium account is required for users who elect to receive enhanced services, including free full-text downloads.
Our Datasets library guide will introduce you to datasets and familiarize you with resources to assist you with locating and using datasets for secondary analysis in behavioral science research.
Our Datasets & Data Repositories From A-Z library guide will allow you to explore data sources and find data to meet your research needs in the behavioral sciences. Take note of specific resources that are freely available through the library or elsewhere online.
The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community. It is committed to ensuring quality content is openly available online for everyone.
Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world.
Project Gutenberg is a library of over 75,000 free epub and Kindle eBooks, which may be downloaded or read online. This collection focuses on older works that are no longer under copyright.
The Internet Archive is a digital library that provides free access to a wide range of materials — including books, movies, music, art, television shows, podcasts, software, and data — and advocates for a free and open Internet. A free user account is required for access.
Open Library is an Internet Archive platform that allows for exclusively searching its eBook collection. Each eBook is presented with its availability information prominently displayed for easy access. A free account is required for borrowing items.
Public libraries can be searched online for materials that are not available from PAU. You can also contact the librarians at your local public library for assistance.
If you live in California or Nevada, contact your local public library and ask about Link+. Link+ is a resource sharing service that gives borrowers access to thousands of scholarly books from across its network. If your local public library belongs to the Link+ network, the books you request will be delivered so you can check them out in person, free of charge, usually within three or four days.
Some colleges and universities offer alumni and/or visitor access. Alumni and visitor access policies and contact information can usually be found online, as in the case of the Stanford University Libraries. Please note that students, faculty, and staff in the Psy.D. Program do have access to Stanford University Library resources as part of PAU's consortial agreement with Stanford University.
