Using PsycINFO

DESCRIPTION | RECORDS | ADVANCED SEARCHING | LIMITING | VIEWING | SAVING/PRINTING/EMAILING RESULTS | RELATED DATABASES |
SEARCH PsycINFO

DESCRIPTION

PsycINFO, from the American Psychological Association, provides access to the world literature of psychology and related fields.  Coverage includes journal articles, books, book chapters, technical reports, and dissertations.  More than 1,700 journals in more than 30 languages are represented in the database.  PsycINFO provides citations and abstracts dating from 1887-present.  For access to full-text APA journals (1988-present), see PsycARTICLES.

RECORDS

Records in PsycINFO are broken up into the following fields (Records will not necessarily contain all possible fields):

• Title: The title of the document.
• Translated Title: The English-language translation of the title of a document written in a non-English language.
• Series Title: The series title of a book or book chapter's "parent" book. May consist of a non-English title. If present, appears in Book or Chapter records only.
• Author: The names of all individual persons responsible for creation of the document. Appears as last name followed by a first name or initial, middle name or initial, author role. If no role is present, the role may be assumed to be "author". The institutional affiliation of the first-listed person responsible for creation of the document is also included here.
• Institutional Author(s): The names of all institution(s) responsible for creation of the document.
• Source: Information on where to find the article or chapter.  For journal articles, this includes the name of the journal, the volume and issue numbers, date of publication and page numbers.
• ISBN / ISSN: Unique identifying numbers for books (ISBN) and periodicals (ISSN).
• Order Number: UMI Dissertation order number; will appear in dissertation records only.
• Document Link URL: The URL where an online version of the document, a full-text version of the document, or additional information, is available.
• Language: The language of the document.
• Keywords: Major concepts in the article, usually a phrase or a one-sentence summary.
• Abstract: A brief summary of the contents of the book, article or book chapter.
• Subjects (Thesaurus Terms): Subject terms (called "descriptors") from the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms (Searchable online by clicking on the Thesaurus button in the PsycINFO main menu.
• Classification: 4-digit numbers that represent subject categories from the PsycINFO Content Classification System.
• Population: A standardized description of specific populations related to the content of the document.
• Location: A standardized description of continents, regions, and country names related to the content of the document.
• Age Group: A standardized description of specific population age groups related to the content of the document.
• Special Feature: Identifies the presence of specific features in, or items accompanying, the document
• Intended Audience: Identifies the intended audience of the document; appears in Book and Chapter records.
• Conference: Contains the name and other information about a conference at which the content of the document was presented.
• Conference Notes: Information about additional conferences at which the content of the document was presented, or information about a conference from which the content of the document was derived.
• Notes: Miscellaneous information about the document, including reprint citations or information about forms of other previous publications of the content.
• Publication Type: Miscellaneous information about the document, including reprint citations or information about forms of other previous publications of the content.
• Document Type: The general type of material (e.g. handbook, literature review, case study).
• Release Date: Date the record was released into the PsycINFO database in YYYYMMDD format.
• Correction Date: Date a corrected version of the record was released into the PsycINFO database in YYYYMMDD format.
• Table of Contents: Included for book records only.
• Accession Number: A unique number used to identify each PsycINFO record.
• Number of Citations: The number of times this document was cited by other documents.
• Persistent Link: The link that will take you directly to this record in the database without having to perform a search.
• Database: The EBSCO database that contains the record on display.
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier): Location information for articles whose publisher has made them available in electronic format.
• View Links: If your document can be found in full text in another EBSCO database, there will be a "Linked Full Text" message here. If not, you will see the Search for Article button, which when clicked will try to find the article for you in another of the Pace University Library databases.

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ADVANCED SEARCHING

PsycInfo will automatically open in advanced search mode. Here you are provided with three search boxes in which 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 advanced search feature is the Fielded Search. This allows you to search only particular record fields for a word or phrase. To conduct a search:

1. Choose the field you would like to specify from the drop-down menu beside the text box. The default fields for unqualified searches are: Title, Translated Title, Abstract, Key Phrase, Subjects, Table of Contents, and Author. 
2. Type the keyword(s) or phrase(s) that best describe your topic.
3. 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.
4. Click on the Search button to run your search.

If you choose to specify certain fields to search, be aware that certain fields require specific terms and/or specific syntax.  For example, if you confine your search to the Subjects field, you need to use PsycINFO's subject terms from the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms which is searchable online by clicking on the Thesaurus button in this database. It is also in print at the library - Birnbaum Ref. Desk Z695.1.P7 T48 1997; Mortola Ref. Z695.1.P7 T48 1997).

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LIMITING

If you scroll down on the PsycINFO search screen, you may limit your results to articles available therough linked full text format or to articles appearing in a specific publication. Other fields that you can limit by in the advanced search mode include:

• Publication Year: Specify a range of years.
• Publication Type: Limit your search to include citation for one of the following types of publications: All Journals, Peer Reviewed Journal, Non-Peer-Reviewed Journal, Books; Authored Books; Edited Book; Encyclopedia, Dissertation Abstract; or Electronic Collection. 
• Age Group: This allows you to limit the age of the studied population to a certain range. 
• Population Group: This refers to the group that is being discussed in the article (e.g. "human", "animal", "inpatient").
• Intended Audience: Limit your search to citation for articles intended for one of the following audiences: General Public, Juvenile (for children), or Psychology: Professional and Research.
• Document Type: In this menu, you can select types such as BIbliography, Column/Opinion, Editorial, and Original or Reprinted Journal Article.
• Book Type: You can search for Classic Book, Conference Proceedings, Handbook/Manual, Reference Book, or Textbook/Study Guide in this menu.
• Methodology: If a Quantitative Study or a Qualitative Study, this is the menu that will help you narrow your results. You may also select Empirical Study or Literature Review among the other options here.
• Classification Code:There are numerous Classification codes included in this list. See above for information on Classification.

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VIEWING RESULTS

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

To view the article's citation and abstract, click on the Title.  If the record does not explicitly state "Linked Full Text," click on the Search for Article button to check and see if an article is available in full-text, either via a library database or print subscription to the journal. This will open a new window.

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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 results:

1. Click on the Save icon at the top of your results screen to open the Save Manager.
2. Click the Save button, which will format the citation and abstract 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 as text format.
6. Click Save.

To Print results:

1. Click the Print icon at the top of the screen to open the Print Manager.
2. Click the Print button to print a record. This database will automatically print both the citation and abstract.

To E-Mail Results:

1. Click on the E-mail icon at the top of the screen to open the E-mail Manager Screen.
2. Type your e-mail address and a subject heading in the text boxes provided. (The Detailed citation and abstract box should be checked.)
   ***Please note that if the record in PsycINFO has the words 'Linked Full Text,' you must follow that link to get the full text from another EBSCO database and use the email link from that screen. ***
3. If the option is highlighted in your folder, you may also send yourself a link to a citation or to your last search. You can do this by clicking on the Persistent Links to Searches link and then choosing from either option.
4. Click on the Send button.

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RELATED DATABASES

For access to full-text APA journals (1988-present), please see PsycARTICLES or any other Psychology Related Database.  Remember that some general databases are very strong on this subject as well.  Academic Search Premier is one such database.

SEARCH THIS DATABASE

Begin searching PsycInfo.

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