PsycINFO

Printable version

Introduction | Accessing | Searching | Search Results | Managing Search Results | Search Tips | Additional Features

Introduction

PsycINFO, produced by American Psychological Association (APA), provides citations and abstracts to information in psychology, the behavioral sciences, and other related disciplines. It includes psychological research and its applications. Subjects coverage include psychology psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law. The database includes over 1,800 professional journals, as well as infomation on books, chapters, reports, websites, theses and dissertations, published internationally. Additionally, there are more than 8 million cited references in 185,000 journal articles, books, and book chapters. PsycINFO is available from Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (1840 to present) with weekly updates. This tutorial will present PsycINFO using the CSA interface - this version includes links to selected full text from NSU libraries' other full text databases.

Accessing

This database may be accessed from the Electronic Resources Section of the Alvin Sherman Library website.

Searching

When you open PsycINFO the screen defaults to the Advanced Search mode. To choose between search modes, click on the Quick Search or Advanced Search tabs near the top of the screen. To construct a search in PsycINFO using the Advanced Search screen type your search term(s) in the search boxes (the Advanced Search feature is not case sensitive) click on Search to obtain a list of records Not all of the empty search boxes need to contain words in order for the search to proceed. Consult the Search Tips for additional information on constructing your search. Advanced search screen in PsycINFO.

Search Results

Search results will vary. If you get: No records matched your search, then check your spelling or the fields you searched in. Too many, then go back and limit your search. Sometimes a search needs to be modified with: additional search words, searching only a specific field, adding date limitations, or type of materials. Too few, then go back and expand your search. Consider synonyms for your search words or concepts. Try to use professional language or terminology. Irrelevant results, then try new search terms. Consider synonyms or related concepts. Identify and search using descriptors. Try a different database. Results lists A list of search results matching your search terms will be displayed. The Search Results page shows citations from All Publication Types that matched your search Tabs for the various types of results available for your search including: Journals, Peer-Reviewed Journals, Conferences, Web sites, Books, Chapters/Essays, Book Reviews and/ or Dissertations. to move between the types of results available, click on the number of results in the labeled tabs. links to view an item's record and to information about locating an item for more help locating an item, or if unsure of an item's availability contact the Alvin Sherman Library reference desk. 1-800-541-6682 ext. 24613 Sample search results in PsycINFO. To navigate through the results use the Previous or Next links to move through the results Navigating through search results in PsycINFO. Records To view a record: Select the View Record link–bottom left corner of each item. The information in the View Record, especially the title of the item and the abstract (summary) of the item will help you determine if you need the item. To view full text: Select Full-Text Linking. If access is available, it will usually link you to ScienceDirect, Ingenta and/or publishers' websites. To view information about how to locate a document use the menu provided toward the top of the page Links to Holdings links to the full text if available or to an outstide source or possible provider. Order this document through ILLiad submits a link to the Sherman Library to request the item – requests will only be filled if the item is not available full-text in another online source. Document Delivery links to commercial vendors such as British Library. Do not use this option unless you want to pay for it yourself! Sample record in PsycINFO.

Managing Search Results

Databases typically allow you to manage your search results by utilizing the option below: printing your search results list and/or specific records saving your search results list and/or specific records–some databases may allow you to save your file for export into commercial bibliographic citation manager software, such as EndNote or ProCite Not all search management features are available in all databases. Marking Marking is an important feature in CSA Databases. The "mark" feature allows you to select records from within your search results. By marking items, you can print, email or save multiple records at one time. To mark a record: in the Search Results Record View, click in the check box Use the Update Marked List link to add this to your list. You may select your marked records or a range of up to 500 records from your results to print. The default will be the records that you have marked. Choose the format of the records and enter comments to be inserted on the record list. Some databases (ex. PsycINFO), will have cited references, which may be removed to reduce the size of the file. Once you have printed your marked records, you may opt to clear your marked records and start a new list, or you may continue to add to your current selections. Printing To print a record Click on the Save/Print/Email Records link from the "View Record" link as seen on the list of Search Results. You will have two options use either the results from the 'marked record list' or all the records from All Publications Type Click the Print Preview button to display records in a printable format. Use your browser's print function to print. This can be done either by clicking the print icon on the navigation toolbar, or clicking on the File menu, then clicking on Print. To return to your results, use the back button on your browser. The Save, Print, Email screen will appear. The Save, Print, Email screen in PsycINFO. Emailing To email a record Mark the records you want email Update Marked List In order to print records first click on the Save/Print/Email Records link from the Result list or from the "View Record" link as seen on the list of Search Results Change to Full format To email the records, enter the address(es) you would like the records sent to in the Email to: box. In the From: box enter the address that you would like to appear as the sender in the email account(s) you are sending the results to. Once sent, use the back button on your browser to return to your search. Please note that the emailed records do not include full text. Use your complete email address and include a note about what you are sending in the comment box. Emailing a record in PsycINFO Confirmation message in PsycINFO. Saving To save a record Select the type of computer you are using to save records. Then click the Save button. Note from CSA: By default, records are saved as a file with a "bin" extension. We recommend changing the filename, file extension and the location where the file will be saved. For example, change the default name of: csa123 to a new filename.doc or filename.txt and location to C:\My Documents If records are saved as a "bin" file, they can be viewed using Notepad or Wordpad.

Search Tips

Use advanced search features to modify a search to obtain more successful search results. You can combine search features to modify and improve your search. Advanced search features often include: phrase or proximity searching field searching date document and/or publication type additional limitation features Boolean operators plurals and wildcards One useful tip when searching any electronic database is to leave out articles, prepositions, and very abstract or general terms–they confuse the database's search engine. For example, if the paper is on "The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy of Adolescent Depression" use the most precise terms like 'major depression' and 'psychotherapy' and skip 'effectiveness,' 'the' and 'of.' You can either limit to 'adoloscent' age group or add this term to the original search. Phrase or proximity searching In Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, there are several ways to search for a phrase terms typed in the same entry box are automatically searched as a phrase higher education curriculum development put the phrase in double quotes, such as "higher education" "curriculum development" use within 1 to search for a phrase: (higher) within 1 (education) (curriculum) within 1 (development) Field searching To limit your search to a specific field in the record use the pull-down arrow–to the left of each text entry box scroll to the field to limit your search to click on the field name Selecting the search field in PsycINFO. Date To limit a search to specific dates go to the Date Range section of the screen–below the entry boxes select the desired years using the pull down arrows Limiting by date range in PsycINFO. Document type To specify a type of document after searching, select one of the green tabs above the search results specify different document types, for example, All Publication Types include journals, peer reviewed journals, conferences, books, dissertations etc. or to limit before searching, use the limiting section of the Advanced Search to limit to Journal Aticles Only by clicking the checkbox or select a Publication Type from the pull-down menu. You can select multiple items within a menu by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on items. Searching for specific document types in PsycINFO. Additional limitation features PsycINFO has additional options for limiting searches which are listed below the Advanced Search area. To limit a search: select options from the pull-down menu for any desired limits. Limits available in PsycINFO include: Publication Type, Language, Age, Population, Target Audience, Methodology, and Supplemental Data. You can select multiple items within a menu by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on items. Additional limiting options in PsycINFO. Boolean operators The Boolean operators, AND, OR, and NOT, can be used to modify a search click on the pull-down arrow–between entry boxes click on the Boolean operator to use Use AND to narrow a search. AND looks for both terms in the same record. leadership and vision; mainstreaming and science Use OR to broaden a search. OR looks for either term in the same record. mainstreaming or inclusion; elementary education or secondary education Use NOT to eliminate records with a certain term. Saturn not car; Venus not planet Plurals and Wildcards Use the following symbols in PsycINFO to locate plural forms, truncate search terms, or replace characters: ? Single-character wildcard for finding alternative spellings. The ? represents a single character; two ?? represent two characters.Use within or at the end of a word, e.g., wom?n finds woman as well as women, and carbon fib?? finds carbon fiber or carbon fibre. * Truncation. This expands a search term to include all forms of a root word, e.g., hear* retrieves hear, hears, heard, hearing, heart * Multi-character wildcard for finding alternative spellings. Use to indicate an unlimited number of characters within a word, e.g., behavi*r retrieves behaviour or behavior.

Additional Features

PsycINFO Database with Full Text provides links to other databases for select full text articles. Links to full text will open in a new window displaying a list of database(s) where the journal may be available in full text. Links to full text articles found in PsycARTICLES link to both HTML and PDF format. Linking to other databases from CSA PsycINFO Database with Full Text. Linking to full text in PsycARTICLES