WHAT IS PSYCINFO?

AN OVERVIEW OF THE PSYCINFO DATABASE

byMARK HABER

THE COLLEGE OF NEWGILL LIBRARYROCHELLE

January 2012

PSYCINFO FACTS

PsycInfo is an abstract database of psychological literature from the 1880’s to the present.

PsycInfo contains bibliographic citations and abstracts from: Journal articles Books Chapters of books Dissertations

You can limit your search to full text, peer reviewed journal articles

Free text search “manic depression”

Click “Subject: Major Heading”

Click inside the box to the left of “Bipolar Disorder” then click “Update”

Controlled Vocabulary

Agreed upon term for a subject or concept Manic Depression USE Bipolar Disorder Marital Adjustment USE Marital Relations Miscarriage USE Spontaneous Abortion Parental Participation USE Parental

Involvement

Use of Thesaurus

List of PsycInfo Subject HeadingsScope Note (PsycInfo’s definition of the term)Other Terms (Broader, Narrower, Related)

To go to the PsycInfo Thesaurus, click “Thesaurus”

Type “manic depression” and click “Browse”

Click “Bipolar Disorder”

The scope note and other terms are listed

Boolean Searching

Combine Search Terms“AND” narrows the search (retrieved item

must have all the terms)“OR” broadens the search (retrieved item can

have one or more of any of the terms)“NOT” limits the search (retrieved item does

not have the term)

divorce and parent child relations and emotional adjustment

Click on the title for detailed record

This is the detailed record for the article

Scroll down to read the abstract (summary)

Scroll up and click “PDF Full Text”

This is the full text article

Truncation

The asterisk* at the end of the root of a word retrieves the word and all forms of the word

Adolescen* retrieves adolescent, adolescence, etc.

Parent* retrieves parent, parental, parenting, etc.

Home* retrieves home, homeless, homesickness, etc.

adolescen* and parent* and home*

Retrieving the full text

Some articles are available full textOthers can be requested at the Circulation

DeskJournal articles, books, and dissertations that

are not owned by CNR can be ordered via Illiad

Click on the title for detailed record

This is the detailed record for the article

Scroll down and click “Search for Article”

Next to “Print Holdings” click “Journal”

Print holdings of the journal “Psychological Reports”

Advantages of Using PsycInfo

Contains journal articles, books, and dissertations

Comprehensive ThesaurusBoolean Searching