PsycINFO Searching Description Produced by the American Psychological Association, PsycINFO indexes journal articles, dissertations, reports, books, book chapters, and other scholarly documents. The definitive resource in psychology, it indexes literature from over 34 countries in more than 30 languages. Coverage is from 1872 present. Purpose PsycINFO is a database (or periodical index) used to find material published on psychology topics. The index provides citations and abstracts, but not full text. Note that the York University Libraries do not subscribe to all the material included in the index. HOW TO GET INTO PSYCINFO You can approach the index by two methods. 1) You can type the name of the index into the Title Quick Search box on the library homepage and click on the eresources link. 2) Or you can approach periodical indexes by using the Find articles by subject link on the library homepage under the eresources heading. This approach will provide recommendations for other indexes suitable for the subject area you specify. Off campus access: If you are off campus when you click on PsycINFO you will be asked to log in with a library barcode and PIN number. Your User ID is the barcode number on the back of your sessional/library card. Your PIN is the four digit number you were given at the Circulation Desk when you got your barcode.
KEYWORD SEARCHING The first step is to identify the keywords that best capture the main concepts of your topic. Eg. You may want to find articles that discuss: the effects of violence in the media on children. The main concepts are: violence, media and children. You can combine your keywords using the word AND. The word AND narrows the search because it means all terms must appear in the record. violence and media and children all the words must be in the record for it to be pulled up in the search by the index. When using OR you need to enclose the terms in parentheses You can also expand your search by incorporating synonyms or related terms into your search using the word OR. The word OR looks for either term in the record. (media or video games) and violence and children Truncation: You can also expand your search by looking for alternate endings to a word using a truncation symbol. The symbol of truncation in PsycINFO is the asterisk. If you type behavior* the index will search for behavior, behaviors, behavioral etc. Descriptors (DE): (also called subject headings) After doing an initial keyword search, you should always look through some records to identify descriptors (subject headings) on your topic. Descriptors are terms used in the index to categorize the topics. You can use these terms to refine your search strategy. You will ensure a more thorough and systematic search by obtaining all records categorized under those descriptors. Eg. The descriptor used in the index to categorize records about movies is Motion Pictures. If you want to pull up all the records with content about movies the best keyword to use would be Motion Pictures.
USING THE THESAURUS: GETTING MORE SYSTEMATIC PsycINFO offers an online thesaurus. Use it to prepare your search by exploring the proper descriptors (subject headings) for each of your key concepts. For example if you type eating disorders in the thesaurus you will retrieve the following results. On the left the term Eating Disorders is listed as a subject heading. To go to the thesaurus entry click on the subject heading. On the right the thesaurus entry provides a list of narrower, broader and related headings. Example A: Subject heading Example B: Thesaurus entry Use the thesaurus to discover the descriptors used in PsycINFO for each concept in your topic. Write the headings down and then combine them using AND and OR under the Search tab. The thesaurus entry also provides information about the term.
Search limits: The index allows you to restrict your search in many ways. You can place limits on your search by clicking on the change button on the right hand side of the search screen. For instance, you can limit to Journal articles Empirical studies derived from experiment or observation rather than theory. Literature reviews An extensive search of the information available on a topic which results in a list of references to books, periodicals and other materials on a topic. Peer reviewed journals (also known as refereed) articles are assessed by other experts in the field before the article is accepted for publication. The Limit Screen This link gives you the option of restricting your search to empirical studies, literature reviews or peer reviewed journals You can select more than one option by holding down the control key and left clicking on the items in the menu. Once you select your restrictions click on the ok link to return to the search screen.
UNDERSTANDING THE RECORD Volume number needed for this article Document type Article title Journal name The citation is essential to finding the article. descriptors Library Available online starting with vol. 16 Volumes at York will link to online version when available FINDING THE MATERIAL It is important to note the document type (DT), because this will affect how you search for the item. PsycINFO contains records for books, book chapters and dissertations as well as journal articles. If the record is for a book or dissertation the citation will appear in the Title field (TI) or in the book field (BK) if it is a book chapter. For journal articles: Write down the citation of the article. The citation is on the source line (SO) and includes the journal title, volume #, issue #, date and page. Sometimes PsycINFO will provide holdings information at the bottom of the record for journal articles. The holdings information includes the call number and the volumes available of the hard copy in the library. Find it @ York: This link at the bottom of the record is intended to assist you in locating a copy of the document either electronically or in print. It does not mean that we have the item in the library or online. If you click on that link the following screen will appear:
Links to the online version when available Searches the library catalogue for a print copy Note: Find it @ York is not always accurate so if you really want an item it is always a good idea to double check the library holdings yourself (see below). Using Title Quick Search to find an item: You can search for an online copy or a print copy of the document using Title Quick Search. To check for an online copy you would type the journal name in the Title Quick Search box and click on the eresources link. To check for a print copy you can type the journal name or the title of a book in the Quick Search box and then click on the catalogue link. If we subscribe to the journal or have a copy of the book a catalogue record will come up and give you holdings information (volumes we have) and a call number. Note: If a copy is not online the library may have a print copy or the reverse may be true it is a good idea to check for both formats. WHERE THE MATERIAL IS LOCATED IN THE LIBRARY Books and past issues of journals are located upstairs on the shelves by call number. A call number is a specific, unique label given to every item in a library. Call numbers usually consist of a combination of letters and numbers, for example PS 3553. H2765 M66. There is a map of Scott Library located by the escalators on the second floor. Journals from the current year are kept on the second floor of Scott Library in the current periodicals room.