Counseling

Even a small library, like the one at Doane University, contains a lot of information on topics in the field of counseling. You just need to figure out how to get to it! This guide was created to take a little of the mystery out of using the library's resources as you begin to do research in this field.

Here are a few tips to improve your research success:

• Try synonyms for your topic, and explore broader and narrower concepts.
• Pay attention to key terms and other subject headings in the databases.
• Always take a look at a work's references. Notice if there are authors that appear time and again; those are the experts on the topic.

More help can be found on the Tip Sheet for Counseling Students (PDF).

Don't know much about your topic?

A good summary article from a reference book like an encyclopedia can get you started in the right direction. It also might help you narrow the focus of your topic.

Wikipedia can be helpful as a starting point but as a professional counselor you'll want to go beyond a sometimes questionable resource such as this.

The Doane Library provides online ebooks on counseling like the ones shown below. Find out what other reference books we have by searching the library's catalog.