How to Find Sources for a Psychology EE
by Lindsay Martinez
For those of you that want to dabble into the core of the human mind, psychology is here for you!
Like biology, psychology extended essays deal a lot with past studies and theories. When you’re finding sources for this kind of essay, you want to find other studies that talk about similar things.
You can obviously use things like JSTOR, Google Scholar, and National Archives to find sources for this type of essay, but more specific to the subject, the American Psychology Association is a great resource when it comes to finding sources specific to psychology.
You never want to end your paragraphs in a quote from another source. To avoid this, make sure to explain what everything means in your own words whenever you use a source or a quote from a source.
When you’re thinking about what kinds of sources to use, here are some main points:
1. Similar Studies: When you’re trying to find information to prove a certain point, it’s good to look at other people that have conducted the same research, either to find specific data or just use their findings and compare them to yours. Just make sure to cite and explain things in your own words.
2. Information on the Biology: Certain psychological research questions require you to acknowledge the biological factors of specific behaviors. For example, some essays may require you to do research on neurons or specific hormones.
Overall, writing a psychology paper is very similar to a science one. There’s a lot of scientific factors that play in to writing an extended essay on psychology, and it’s not as easy as some may assume. You should try to find at least 10 sources for this type of essay, so you may want to start early.
When you’re actually writing out the Works Cited page for your EE, EasyBib is your best bet. Make sure that it’s written out in MLA format and that you have the sources in alphabetical order with a hanging indentation.
Overall, the extended essay isn’t as bad as people make it out to be as long as you know how to use the time you have. Don’t overthink it, don’t freak out, and get it done: good luck!
