How to Use PsycInfo

Why use PsycInfo? Highly respected and comprehensive

resource published by APA 90% of content is peer-reviewed Contains citations from thousands of

professional journals, chapters, books, reports, theses and dissertations, published internationally.

Updated weekly with about 60,000 entries added yearly

Content dates from the 1800s to the present

ContentSubject coverage• Applied psychology• Communication systems• Developmental psychology• Educational psychology• Experimental human and animal psychology• Personality• Psychological and physical disorders• Physiological psychology and neuroscience• Professional personnel and issues• Psychometrics and statistics• Social psychology • Social processes and issues • Sports psychology and leisure • Treatment and prevention

Some useful termsCitation: The brief identifying information for the article. Includes author(s), publication year, article title, journal name, volume and issue numbers, page numbers, etc.Abstract: Summary of the articleReferences: The list of citations of sources used by the author(s) of the article. You may be able to view this even if the complete article is not available in PsycInfo.Link to Full-Text: Provides a link to an external web site or database which contains the complete article

Full-Text: The complete article, in HTML format (looks like a Word document)

Full-Text PDF: The complete article in Portable Document Format, in which the article looks the same as in the print journal, with formatting, page numbers, images, tables, etc. Choose this option if available, so you have the page numbers for your bibliography.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Articles submitted for publication in an academic journal are reviewed by a board of experts in the relevant field (“peers” of the author), to assess its accuracy, the quality of the research methods used, and perhaps identify revisions that need to be made. Articles judged to be of insufficient quality are rejected. Choosing peer-reviewed articles is one way to ensure you are using reliable information.Characteristics of a Peer-Reviewed Article

• Provides hard data to back up statements and claims

• Identifies sources the author(s) quoted or consulted

• Includes an abstract (summary)• Provides the credentials of the author(s)

To access PsycInfo

Click this icon (will open a new tab/window)

Or, click the icon on the Finding Articles & Databases tab of the Psychology Research Guide

If you have not already logged in through Blackboard, you may see the TigerTracks log-in page. Just enter your TigerTracks username and password.

2 ways to search1. Using Keyword Searching to Identify Subject Headings: If you have a broad topic in mind, but aren’t sure how to narrow it down, or what aspect of the topic you are most interested in, start with a keyword search and identify the subject heading. This is the wording that PsycInfo uses to classify your broad topic. You will then find related or narrower headings, or you can search for that heading and combine it with keywords.

Head Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury

treatment

risk factors

Concussion diagnosis

Identifying Subject Headings

Identifying the way a database classifies your topic (through a “Subject Heading” can make your topic more manageable. You can

start with a keyword search.

Your results screen offers two places to find Subject Headings:

Check the boxes for the subjects you want to include or exclude and click “Apply” at the bottom.

Or choose an article that interests you, and click the Title to find the headings

for that particular article

2nd Method: Combining keywords Combine keywords (or subject headings and keywords) to create a search strategy that includes the specific topics you are interested in.

eating disorde

rs

social conformity

gender

Advanced Search allows you to enter a combination of terms

Type in the most important words or short phrases that describe your topic.

Searching “all fields” means it will look in all parts of the article for your terms. If this yields too many results,

or results that are not relevant, narrow the focus of your search by

changing “all fields” to “document title” or “abstract” or “subject”

Combine terms with AND if you only want articles in which both terms appear (conformity And (eating disorder …)

Use synonyms and truncation to broaden your search

If your topic covers any type of eating disorder, Eating Disorder and Bulimia and Anorexia would

all be acceptable terms, and so in this sense could be considered synonyms. Combine them

using “OR” because an article mentioning any of them would be acceptable.

Use an asterisk to stand in for one or more letters, so you can retrieve all forms of that word, such as bulimic, bulimia etc.

Options for Limiting Your Search

For University-level work, you will

probably need to limit to

Peer-Reviewed articles If necessary, you can

add multiple criteria such as• Geographical

location• Test or measure

used• Type/format of

info.• Methodology• Age or Gender of

subjects• Target Audience• Population to create a very specific search. Usually, it’s best to begin with a broad search and narrow it as you learn the best search words or find-tune your precise topic.

Note: Most entries in PsycInfo only have the citation and abstract available

A few do have the complete

article available

References are available for this article

However, click the article title to see the record, for more options and information.

Note the other

subject headings for this article

Click “LinkSourc

e” to search for

the full-text of this

article in our other databases

Article Record

LinkSource found this article in Science Direct database

Other information in the article record

You can find other useful information about this article in the record, including • tests and

measures used,

• methodology, • author

contact information,

• DOI and more.

Working with your search results

By creating a free “My Research” account, you can save searches and articles to a folder that will remain after you close out of the database. You can also e-mail, print, save to an external drive, tag and cite the article. Be sure to double check the citation against your manual.

You can also save searches and run or combine them later.

If LinkSource doesn’t find the article, we may own it in print

The “Find a Specific Article

” page of the Psychology

Research Guide has a tutorial on how to find print materials.

If we do not own the article in print, click “Request this Item”

Interlibrary Loan

If an article from another database or other library materials you need are not available at Forsyth Library, we may be able to get it for you from another library via Interlibrary Loan (local area students) or Distance Services (virtual students).

See the Interlibrary Loan or Distance Services tabs on the

Psychology Research Guide to learn how to request materials.

Questions? Just Ask!

Judy Salm628-4537

jasalm@fhsu.edu

Lynn Haggard628-5566

lhaggard@fhsu.edu

MaryAlice Wade628-4342

mawade2@fhsu.edu

Angela Barger628-4529 abarger@fhsu.edu