Home - Counseling - Research Guides at California State University, Fullerton

Welcome, Counseling Students!

Welcome to the Pollak Library and to the Counseling research guide!

This guide is designed for research in counseling at the Pollak Library. The library offers a rich collection of resources including books, journals, indexing and abstracting databases, electronic journals, audiovisual materials, government documents, and more. Please feel free to explore the menu options above to locate both print and online information for your research needs.

Please note that access to some of the resources available through the Pollak Library require authentication by means of a Cal State Fullerton Portal username and password.

If you would like to review some general research guidelines before you begin, please feel free to open the "Research Tips" section below.

For research assistance, please feel free to contact Adolfo Prieto, Reference & Instruction Librarian, by using the communication methods provided on the right-hand side of this guide. There you also will find a general "Research Help" option in the case that Adolfo Prieto is unavailable. For other research-assistance options, please refer to the Pollak Library's "Click for live help!" page.

Related Links:

Pollak Library homepage

CSUF Department of Counseling

This research guide is adapted from a guide originally created by Jie Tian.
Prepared and maintained by Adolfo Prieto.
An instructional page of the Paulina June & George Pollak Library at
California State University, Fullerton.

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Research Tips

The following tips provide some helpful guidelines as you begin your research:

Identify your research interest and articulate your research question.

Writing down your topic will help you identify your research needs and interests. Your topic can be a keyword, a phrase, a complete sentence, or a paragraph that describes your research.

Determine what types of materials you will need for your topic.

Do you need books, articles, statistics, audiovisual materials, government documents, book reviews, biographical information, primary sources, etc.?

Formulate a search strategy.

If your topic is phrased in a sentence, can you identify the key terms which are unique?

What synonyms or other similar concepts might you use to make your search more comprehensive or inclusive?

Is your topic too broad that you might want to consider making your topic narrower and more focused by adding another term or using a more precise term?