Searching PsycINFO

SilverPlatter WebSPIRS version 4

PsycINFO indexes the international scholarly literature of psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines from 1887-present. You will find references for journal articles, research reports, dissertations, conference proceedings and other scholarly material. English language books and book chapters are indexed from 1987-present.

The PsycINFO database is produced by the American Psychological Association and searched using the SilverPlatter WebSPIRS information retrieval system.

Copyright © 1990-99 SilverPlatter International N.V. Logo and screen shots used by permission.

Getting started

If you are reading this page on the Web, you can go directly to PsycINFO.

If you are using a computer on the Notre Dame campus, the system will start a session in PsycINFO and open a second browser window with the WebSPIRS search menu.

Searching

If the main search menu seems too small, just resize or maximize the window! You can safely ignore, or even close, the full-size session window underneath if it is in your way.

On the right side of the search menu,  there is a column of extremely useful buttons:

The Help button leads to information about searching PsycINFO, such as fields used, how to narrow a search, and how to use advanced search features. If you are new to PsycINFO, use this button often!

The Databases button will always bring you back to the Select Databases screen, where you can check the boxes beside the databases which you want to search. Select all relevant boxes and click on the Open Selected Databases button at the top of the window.

The Searches button will always bring you back to the Search screen and your Search History.

Use the Suggest option when you are stumped and cannot think of subject headings that describe your topic. It will attempt to match your word or phrase with valid "descriptors."

The Index button lets you select search terms from the General Index, a complete list of indexed words and phrases in PsycINFO. Indexes to other fields are available on the drop-down menu shown at left:

Some of these indexes are useful for limiting searches with too many "hits." For example, DT=journal-article can be used to limit results to journal articles only.

The Thesaurus is a searchable list of subject headings or descriptors used in PsycINFO, along with links to broader, narrower, and related terms.

Click the Logout button when you have finished searching.

The Search screen

Change any options that you want on this screen and type your search in the text box. When ready, click the Start Search button. Be aware that there are three alternatives to typing searches from scratch:

1. Click the Thesaurus button and select terms directly from any Thesaurus display.
2. Click the Index button and select terms directly from the Index.
3. Click the Search Builder button and fill in a user-friendly search form.

Change Display Button

Look below and to the right of the search screen to find the Change Display button.

<-- Use this option to see descriptors in your results!

Click the Change Display button to change the format of search results. To include descriptors and other subject information in search results, click the Select Fields button on the next screen.

Then scroll through the display options until you find the AB-Abstract option. Check it and the additional options shown at right. All of the additional subject-related fields will tell you why your search retrieved a particular item and give you important clues about how to improve your search.

When you finish, click the Confirm Changes button:

Entering a search in the Find box

Type words that describe your topic in the Find box and click the Start Search button:

This search retrieves over 3380 records. Each record contains the phrase college students and the word stress.

Note: If you search for a phrase in the Descriptor (subject heading) field, or another phrase index, use hyphens between adjacent words, as in this search:

college- students in de

There are several tricks to entering searches in the Find box, as shown next.

If you type a search in the FIND box, it may contain:

To combine concepts when you type a search in the FIND box:

Setting Limits

The easiest way to focus a search with too many hits is to set limits. Limit results to a specific language by clicking the appropriate check box right under the Find box. To set more limits, click the Set Other Limits button under the Find box:

This option opens a page where you use pull-down menus to set one or more limits. The first limit field menu is for DT-Document Type. Here we have selected JOURNAL-ARTICLE:

Another limit is PO-Population. FEMALE is selected here:

Your selections are shown as current limts directly under the Find box:

Using the Set Other Limits button and pull-down menus is easier than searching the corresponding Indexes because you do not have to think of a search term to look for. All possible terms are shown on the menu.

Using Search Builder

Entering a search from scratch may be intimidating to a new user of  PsycINFO, but there is an alternative. Instead of clicking Search, click Search Builder. Then fill in the boxes on the next screen:

If Search Builder does not help you formulate a good search, remember that you can always click the Suggest button on the search menu to find subject terms:

The Search Builder is actually a simple and efficient way to query the Thesaurus, since it suggests descriptors from anywhere in the alphabetical list of valid subjects. You neither have to think of alternate terms nor enter several searches.

Using the Thesaurus

It is often better to use the Thesaurus or the Index at the beginning of your search session than to haphazardly enter search terms in the Find box or Search Builder!

Click the Thesaurus button at the top of the screen to open the PsycINFO Thesaurus of Descriptors.

Type a term that you think might be a descriptor and click the Go to Subject button. Then click an underlined subject to see its Thesaurus entry. The entry for anger looks like this:

Look for the Search and Explode buttons at the top of the Thesaurus window.

Click the Search button to search the Thesaurus term and show results on the search screen.
Click the Explode Subject button to search for the Thesaurus term plus all narrower terms.
Click an underlined term to display the Thesaurus entry for that term.

The Thesaurus can help you find the correct descriptor for your topic. For example, if you are looking for information about "job stress" or "burnout," they are not listed. However, if you explore the entry for "Stress," the term "Occupational Stress" is listed. If you search for "burnout," a cross-reference is shown:

Using the Index

Click the Index button at the top of the screen to display a list of indexes you can search directly. The General index contains all indexed words and phrases in PsycINFO. There are other indexes as well, such as Document Type, Age Group, Population, and others. Terms in these indexes may be used to limit or focus a search.

Type a term, such as hostility. The Index displays all the indexed terms that contain the word "hostility" and how many records contain the term. Note that one-word descriptors such as hostility- are followed by a hyphen. A section of the Index display for hostility is shown here.

Click in the checkbox to the left of any words that you want to search and click the Search button.

We recommend that you search authors in the Author Index, so that you can select variant forms of an author's name. For example, you might find Dufus-G, Dufus-G-W, or Dufus-George.

Combining Searches

Often, you will want to combine the results of several searches shown in your Search History. To do this, check the searches you want to combine, check AND or OR, then click the Combine Checked button.

Combining two or more searches creates a new set of results:

Viewing and Printing Results

To view results, click the corresponding Display link or scroll up and click the Display Records button. For example, to see the records in Set #4, above, click Display.

If you do not want to print, e-mail or save all your results, click in the checkbox at the top of each record you want to mark (for printing or saving):

If you have marked records while reviewing results, click:

You may want to use the Change Display option to add or delete fields before you print.
When you are ready, select the option you want from these:

Choose Print, Save, or E-mail and follow the prompts.

Click the Logout button when you have finished using PsycINFO.

If you have questions, please ask a Reference Librarian!

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Guide created and used by permission of Araby Greene, Electronic Resources and Government Information Coordinator, University of North Carolina, Ashville, NC. Send comments, suggestions to libweb.1@nd.edu.