PsycInfo Tutorial


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PsycINFO (Psychology) on NCLive is a premier database for searching Abstracts in the discipline of psychology and related fields. According the description provided by the vendor below, it is apparent this research tool is scholarly, extensive, and powerful.

To access PsycINFO, click on the NCLive icon at the Hickory Public Library homepage and the NCLive icon on the page following. This NCLive homepage will appear.

Clicking on the Browse Resources Tab returns the page below.

Selecting thesubject, Medical and Health, will retrieve all the databases in NCLiveconcerning health, medicine, and allied health fields. A portion of that list is follows.

Click on the PsychINFO (Psychology) link to enter the resource. Below is PsycINFO’s homepage. Note the search and index tabs, the set limiters button, and the pull down database menu that allows you to select one of many databases.

The scope of PsycINFO is enormous so be sure to set the database you desire to at the beginning of your sessions. Below is a Simple(Full Text) Search at the homepage.

The keyword depression (found anywhere in the record) is entered into the simple search field with no other limiters set. Retrieved records 1-3 of 91718 are shown below.

Selecting record #3 and clicking on the link Complete Record retrieves the abstract of this article and an abundance of useful information including links to other works by the authors, to other articles in the same publication, related concepts, websites, etc.

A good search strategy is to examine the concepts and descriptors (key subject headings), then combine and/or manipulate the terms in an advanced search. You could also click on any link and pull up all the records in the database that have the term in that field and then limit those returns as needed. Note that in this example depression in not a major descriptor although this article addresses the general concept of depression. There are many aspects regarding depression and doing a descriptor (preferred term) search using a Thesaurus, narrows results considerably. According to PsychINFO Help notes, “a Thesaurus is a standardized list of terms that describe the records within a database. This enables you to select and search for synonyms, related terms, and preferred terms, and also to see descriptions of the terms. NOTE: The Thesaurus is available only if you are searching a single database, database family, or multiple databases that share the same thesaurus.” Let’s examine the concept and term, depression in the Thesaurus. Select the Thesaurus Tab and key in the term, depression. Then click Go to Terms button.

Below is a portion of the variations of the general concept, depression. The preferred terms or subject headings are the blue links. Note the see references, which direct you to the proper terms to use in this database. For example, you should use Bipolar Disorder instead of Manic Depression as the preferred term in this database when searching. You could click on any of these links at this point and pull up every record that contained that preferred term, anywhere in the record (title, abstract, descriptors, etc.)

Before we try an Advanced Search, let’s take a look at some searching tips. More detailed searching tips are available by clicking on the Help button on the red title bar at the homepage. Also notice the How do I? pull down menu for additional help.

In the Search Examples box above, note the Boolean examples of combining two (or more) search terms with or and combining two (or more) search terms with and. Use of wildcards (?) for word variations is also possible in this database for further search refinement and manipulation. Remember it possible is to limit a term to be found in certain fields such as the title, author, major descriptor, minor descriptor, concept, etc. doing Advanced Searches and using the pull-down menu options.Finally, one may set a variety of limiters in PsycINFO by clicking on the Change button for limit options. See the Change button in the upper right hand corner in the window below. Remember to clear the limits with the Clear button when completing a search.

Limit options are in the gray panel (below) on the left. Select the desired type options and highlight the desired limiter. In the following illustration, I previously selected the Audience Type (General Public) and Population (Female) limits, which are indicated in the Current Limits field. The option, Document Type is now open with a portion of the various choices available for selection and highlighting. Remember to click on OK once your selections are made.

Let's try an Advanced Search now. Start by clicking on the Change button in the limiter area near the top right hand of the Advanced Search page and set the limits desired. For this example, I have already selected limiting my returns to Journal Articles. Notice the yellow triangle reminding me that I have set search my search limits. After consulting the Thesaurus (for preferred terms), fill in the query boxes with the search terms you have determined to use. Next, set the fields in the records where you wish your terms to appear, and choose the set of Booleanoperators (AND, OR, NOT) you wish to use to configure your search. See the example below. Notice the pull down menu displaying a partial list of fields from which you may choose.

The number of returns (29) is much less than our keyword anywhere search and more manageable.

The brief citations above verify that all the entries are articles from journals. A quick check of record #1 confirms the requested descriptors.

Before we close, let’s take a look at the Index Tab and learn what it does. There is a pull down window that reveals that there is more than one index in PsycINFO that you may consult. In this first example, I want to know if the medication for depression called “Zoloft” is found in any records of the default database. The General Index (Free Text) has been selected and the term Zoloft keyed in.

Click on the Go to Term button. There are 18 records with the term Zoloft in the default setting database.

There are several other indexes by which to determine/verify searchable terms, types, languages, etc. in the records. According to the Help information in PsycINFO, “each SilverPlatter database has an Index of searchable terms. In addition to the General (Free Text) Index, some databases have separate indexes for certain fields such as Title or Author. Examine the partial list from the pull down menu here.

Selecting a specific index such as Language retrieves all the languages represented in the records from all the PsycINFO databases. See, for example, the first part of the languages list below and note the number of records in each language that are now in the databases.

As you can tell, PsycINFO is a versatile database of wide scope and content for doing research in the field of psychology and is well worth the time and effort to learn.