Searching PsycINFO
Before You
Begin
Developing Your Search
Doing Your
Search
Finding
Results at Lovejoy Library and Beyond
What’s in
PsycINFO?
PsycINFO is a database of references or citations
to journal articles, book chapters, books,
technical reports, and dissertations in the
discipline of psychology. Journal article citations
range from 1887 to the present, while book and
chapter citations range from 1987-present. This
database is not full text.
How do I get into
PsycINFO?
Go to the Lovejoy Library Online Information page
here
Go to
Journal and Newspaper
Databases, then to Education, then to
PsycINFO.
When searching for articles in
psychology, you might be tempted to turn to this
database, plug in your search terms, and take the
first likely-looking article you run across.
However, that is neither a thoughtful nor a
critical way to do research.
First things first
...
You have a research question of some sort. Write
that down on paper. For example, "I want to find
out if personality affects how people respond to
stress." Break that question into major concepts,
in this case, personality and stress.
PsycINFO uses a Controlled Vocabulary
(subject headings) to index their articles. Type
your first term in the Keyword
box. It will automatically take you to the nearest
subject heading. If you click on the hot blue term,
it will reveal related terms (i.e "personality
traits" under "personality"). You can mark as many
of these as you want. Click on the
Continue button on the top of the
page. The number of hits will appear in a box
followed by a Display button.
Click on Display to see your
citations.
Repeat this procedure for each one of your main
concepts. Note: If you have an unusual term (hip
hop music, Warren Buffett, etc.) click off the
Map to Subject Heading button
above the Keyword box.
Combining and Limiting
Searches
Each time you search, the number of hits will be
shown in a box at the top of the screen. After you
have searched for several concepts, you can combine
these searches. Simply go to the top of the page
and click on the Combine logo.
Mark the searches that you want to combine and
click on Continue.
You can further limit your search by clicking on
the Limit button at the top of the
page. You can limit your search by publication
date, population groups, language, and many other
categories. Limiting a search to peer-reviewed
journals is available through the Special Features
function on this page.
Marking and printing
records
As you scroll through the list of citations and
abstracts click on the box next to each record that
looks promising. When you’re done, click on
Return to Main Menu Search Page.
The citations you have selected will automatically
be collected in a set. Click on
Display to see the list in a brief
bibliographic format. Click on the
Print icon to print this list. If
you would like to print the citations with
abstracts, go to the bottom of the page and click
on Display underneath
Citation Manager.
Finding articles
After you have a list of citations, you’ll
want to find out which journals are in Lovejoy
Library and whether they’re in print or
microfiche. CHekc the date of publication in the
citation. Go to the Library Catalogs page at
http://www.library.siue.edu/lib/info/catalogs.html
Click on the Library Holdings link
under the citation. If the Library carries the
publication, be sure to check the dates of
coverage.
Full text online
Lovejoy Library subscribes to a number of databases
that include some full text journal articles. You
can search these databases with a single effort. Go
to the Journal and Newspapers Databases page at
http://www.library.siue.edu/lib/info/periodb.html
Type in the journal title in the search box at
the bottom. A grid will appear with the full text
coverage dates on the right side. Check the dates
of your citations against the full text coverage
dates. Click on the hot blue link and type in the
journal title. Open up the Keyword
box and click on source. Enter the author’s
name in the second box and click on
author.
What if the journal I need
isn’t in the library or available
online?
You can request a copy of the article you need from
another library. An online form for this request is
available here
Paper request forms are also available in the
library. Average turn around time for an
Interlibrary Loan request is 10 days to 2
weeks.
If you have
questions or comments about this research guide,
please contact Matt Paris, Education Librarian,
Lovejoy Library, at
mparis@siue.edu or at 618-650-2906.
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