Using PsycARTICLES

DESCRIPTION | RECORDS | SEARCHING (Advanced Searching, Basic Searching, Limiting Your Search, Publication Searching) | VIEWING RESULTS | SAVING/PRINTING/E-MAILING RESULTS | RELATED DATABASES | SEARCH PsycARTICLES

DESCRIPTION

PsycARTICLES covers general psychology and specialized, basic, applied, clinical and theoretical research in psychology. The database contains more than 25,000 searchable full text articles from 38 journals published by the APA and 4 from allied organizations. It contains all journal articles, letters to the editor and errata from each of the 42 journals. Coverage spans from 1988 to the present.  For citations and abstracts dating from 1887-present, see PsycINFO.

RECORDS

Records in PsycARTICLES are broken up into the following fields:

• Article ID: A unique number used to identify each PsycArticle record.
• Title: The title of an article or reviewed work.
• Abstract: A summary or abstract of the document.
• Author: The names of all authors and corporate authors of the document. Author names are followed by their institutional affiliation.
• Source: The source in which the article was published and other publication information, including the journal, the volume and issue numbers, date of publication and page numbers.
• ISSN: The International Standard Serial Number of the journal.
• Article Type: Identifies the article type of the document such as Journal Article, Book Review, or Correction.
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier): A permanent identification system for intellectual property found on the Internet. The identifier contains the naming convention registered to a DOI registration agency (currently, the International DOI Foundation).
• Reviewed Work: Contains the title of a reviewed item, reviewed item author and publication information.
• Correction to: The target title and Article ID of a correction article.

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SEARCHING

Advanced Searching

PsycARTICLES will automatically open in an advanced search screen. This search provides you with several searching options. You are provided with three search boxes to place keywords and/or phrases. These search boxes are connected with drop-down menus containing the Boolean operators - AND, OR, NOT. 

• Use AND to retrieve articles containing all words/phrases
• Use OR to retrieve articles containing any of the words/phrases
• Use NOT to retrieve articles containing words/phrases without others.

Another important search feature in this option is the fielded search. This allows you to search only particular record fields for a word or phrase. Choose the field you would like to specify from the drop-down menu beside the text box. The default fields for unqualified searches consist of the following: Author, Author Affiliation, Reviewed Item Author, Corporate Author, Title, Publisher, Abstract, Journal Name, and Reviewed Item. 

1. Type the keyword(s) or phrase(s) that best describe your topic. 
2. Once you have entered your search terms and field limits, connect the different parts of your query by selecting the appropriate Boolean operator (AND or OR or NOT) from the pull down menus on the left.
3. Click on the Search button to run your search. 

Basic Searching

To access PsycARTICLES' basic search mode, click on the tab near the top of your screen.  From here you can enter a keyword or phrase, or you can combine keywords using Boolean operators (see above).  You can also enter multiple keywords in the search box and use the buttons provided to search for All Words (an AND search), Any Words (an OR search) or the Exact Phrase.

Limiting or Expanding your Search

PsycARTICLES also provides many options for limiting your search. These options are available in both the advanced and basic search modes by scrolling further down the screen and entering information in the "Search Options" box. These options include limiting your search to articles published in a particular journal, in a particular date range, or by a particular publisher. See the limiting search options below. Expanding your search options include searching for words/phrases within the full text of articles and searching for related words (singular/plural and other derivatives).

Publication Searching

If you want to find articles in a particular journal, or in a particular issue of a particular journal, click on the Publications underneath the Advanced Search tab.

1. If you know the exact title, type it in the text box and click browse.
2. This will provide you with a list of journals, click in the box next to the journal(s) you would like to view, so a checkmark appears in the box 

   Example:

   

3. Click on Search and the database will automatically launch an advanced search for articles in the journal you have designated.

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VIEWING RESULTS

Your search results will appear as a list of brief citations.  PsycARTICLES displays 10 records at a time by default.  You can change the maximum number of results per screen by selecting the Preferences in the top right corner of the screen.

• To view an article's complete citation and abstract, click on the Article title (Scroll down to view the full text). 
• Click on the Full Page Image link (if available) to view a PDF image of the full text or the HTML Full text link to view the full text in an HTML-coded version.

 

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SAVING/PRINTING/E-MAILING RESULTS

To save, print or e-mail an item, first add it to your folder.  To do this, click on the folder icon    to the right of the item in the results list or the Add to Folder icon when viewing an individual record. After you add the item to your folder, the folder will change to indicate that the item has been added.

To Save the item(s) in your folder, click on the save icon at the top of your results screen.  This will open the "Save Manager".

1. Choose the HTML Full text (when available) option if you only want the full text article. Choosing Detailed citation and abstract will only send the publication information and possibly a summary of the article. (You may also save links to articles or search strings by choosing the HTML Links to article box.)
2. Click the Save button, which will format the article for saving.
3. Use your browser's save options. Click on File from the browser's menu.
4. Click on Save As…
5. The system will automatically save the results to the a:\ drive. You must specify a filename ending in .txt to save in plain text format.
6. Click Save.

To Print, open the "Print Manager" by clicking on the Print button at the top of the screen.

Click on the E-mail icon at the top of the screen to open the "E-mail Manager" Screen

• Type your e-mail address and an e-mail subject in the text boxes provided.
• Click in the boxes next to the formats and/or information you want e-mailed. Choose HTML Full text [This will send you the article in the text of an email message] and/or Detailed citation and abstract [This will send you the citation of the article].
• Click the Send button.

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