PsycINFO. Finding Psychology Journal Articles

Transcription

1 PsycINFO Finding Psychology Journal Articles This booklet is an introduction to and a refresher for searching the psychology journal literature in the EBSCOhost version of PsycINFO, and also for obtaining the articles you wish to read. Always start with PsycINFO when searching for psychology articles. Pre-Search Preparation Start with a research question or hypothesis statement. o How are parent-child relations related to aggression in adolescents? Break down the question or hypothesis into its main keywords. Usually you are looking for nouns. Do not include age groups as keywords. o How are parent-child relations related to aggression in adolescents? Aggression Parent-child relations Go To PsycINFO Follow these steps to get to PsycINFO > Research Gateway > Psychology > PsycINFO link (near top of page) 1

2 Find Subject Terms for Your First Keyword Make sure the Suggest Subject Terms box is selected. Type one of the keywords from your hypothesis statement or research question into the first Find box, and then search. A list of suggested subject terms should appear. Look at the thesaurus entry for a subject term by clicking on the term. If your keyword (or a similar appropriate term) does not appear in the list of subject terms, try browsing for a synonym or related term. If an appropriate term still does not appear, try asking a librarian or your professor for suggestions. If, after consultation, no appropriate subject terms are found, try the next keyword from your hypothesis statement. You may have to use a different approach for that first keyword. 2

3 View the Thesaurus Entry for a Subject Term At this point, take a look at the broader, narrower, and related terms in addition to the main subject term. o If a broader term seems most appropriate, click on the hypertext link and look at the thesaurus entry for that broader term. Then select appropriate narrower or related terms. o If all narrower terms are appropriate, a shortcut is to explode that term using the explode check box. Otherwise you must select a check box for each of the narrower terms listed. o Appropriate related terms must be selected using the check boxes next to the terms. Exploding will not include those terms. o Do not select major concept initially. It may narrow your search too much. When you have made your selections, click the add button to put selected subject terms into a search box. Then use the search button to execute that portion of your search. 3

4 Find Your Next Subject Term Select the advanced search tab at the top of the PsycINFO page. Follow the same steps as you did with the first keyword. Go through the same steps with any additional keywords. Combine Searches: Search History / Alerts Tab After searching for each aspect of your search statement or hypothesis individually, you will then combine your search sets to get results that include each aspect of your original statement / hypothesis. Follow these steps to combine search sets: 4

5 1) Select Search History tab 2) Your most recent search (in this case S2) is already in the top search box. Add your prior search into the second search box by either typing the set number (in this case S1) or copying and pasting (the most efficient option) the group of search terms, including all parentheses. 3) Use the Search button to execute the combined search. Refine Your Search Results Once you have your combined search results, consider adding some limits. If you get very few results, do not limit. First consider other keywords or subject headings that might offer additional results. If you choose to limit, follow the steps below. 5

6 Click on the refine search tab. Pick the limits you wish to apply to your most recent search set. When you are finished selecting, use the search button at the top of the page to apply the limits to your search set. Some Frequently Used Limits to Initially Consider Include: Publication Year (enter range) Peer Reviewed (check box) Publication Type: All Journals or Peer Reviewed Journal English (check box) Population Group: Human After initial limits, if you still have a moderately large set of results consider the following limits: Age Groups Caveats: o Additional age groups may also be referred to in the publication o Articles that are not about the specific age group you have in mind may also be relevant Linked Full Text (check box) o Includes PsycARTICLES and some other UPS-licensed full text o UPS may have additional articles electronically, in paper, or in other formats; so if there are few results using the limit to full text or if you want a more complete list of easily obtainable articles, try again without that limit and follow instructions below to check UPS holdings Look Through Your List of Search Results The first 10 results will appear in the Results tab. If you did not limit your search results to journal articles, then some results may be books, book chapters, dissertations or other types of publications. Click on the name of the article to see additional information. Usually an abstract will appear, as well as a list of subject terms ( subjects ), and other information. If there is a link to full text, you can go straight to the article. There are shortcut links in the list of PsycINFO results to full text (if available via EBSCOhost), a link to Check Journal Locator for full text availability to find other ways to access the article via UPS, a link to check the library catalog (for books) and a link to Interlibrary Loan Request (ILLiad), which allows you to request the article if UPS does not have it. 6

7 Top portion of the PsycINFO record includes: Abstract brief summary of the article Lower portion of the PsycINFO record includes: Subjects these can be useful if you need to revise your search; pay attention to the subjects that appear consistently for the articles that look most on-target for your topic View Links - shortcut links that also appear in the initial results list 7

8 Check the Journal Locator / Article Linker If there is no direct link to full text for an article of interest in your PsycINFO search results, use the shortcut link Check Journal Locator to determine whether the article is available at UPS. o If the article is available in electronic format at UPS, you can link from the Journal Locator / Article Linker search results directly to the article, or indirectly to the database or web site that includes the full text. o If the article is available in paper or microform in the library, a link is provided from the Journal Locator / Article Linker search results to the library catalog for additional details. You must physically go to the library in order to read or photocopy these non-electronic versions of the article. 8

9 If you are no longer logged into PsycINFO, and you want to check and see if we have access to an article from a printed list of search results: o Link to the Journal Locator from any Gateway Page or from the library Home Page ( ) o Search for the name of the journal (Title begins with ) o Pay close attention to the date ranges given in the Journal Locator results, and check the date of your article to make sure it is in one of the ranges. Identify the Name of a Journal From PsycINFO Search Results The journal title (not to be confused with the article title) will be found in two places in your PsycINFO search results: o In the initial results list, immediately after the authors and immediately before the volume number o In the more detailed record that you will find if you click on the article title in the initial results list; the journal name will be in the Source field 9

10 Journal title found in Source Field Find Your Article After Linking to a Database or Web Site Once you have linked to a database or web page from the Journal Locator, you may have multiple options to get to the actual article. For example: o Find the correct journal issue, and then browse through the list of articles published in that issue. Sometimes the list of journal issues is found by linking to journal archive or past issues. o Use the search within publication link and add search criteria for the article like an author s last name, the first 3-5 words in the article title, etc. 10

11 Where to Look If the Journal Locator Shows that UPS Has the Article in Paper / Microform Follow the Journal link from the Journal Locator to check paper / microform details; it will lead you to the SIMON record for the journal. If you need to find the paper holdings of a journal in the library, they are located in the basement, alphabetical by journal name, except for the most recent issues. Recent journal issues are located near the library entrance in the reading room area (to the left as you enter the library). Microfilm and microfiche are located in the blue file cabinets in the basement. Reader machines are nearby. Microfilm and microfiche reader machine printing is free! Request Articles Not Available at UPS (Interlibrary Loan) If a search for the journal (journal title) does not bring up any results in the Collins Library Journal Locator, you will need to obtain the article through interlibrary loan (ILLiad). There is a shortcut for this on the Journal Locator results page. Articles usually take 4-6 working days, on average, and usually come electronically. Some articles do take longer, so give yourself plenty of time to receive the articles, read them, and find additional articles if necessary. You will receive an notifying you when the article is ready (posted on your ILLiad account or in paper at the front desk). 11

12 Print / / Save Your PsycINFO Search Results Use the Add / Folder icons to select articles that you would like to print, or save Click on the folder icon at the top of the page to view all the citations you have added to your list Click on appropriate link - print, , or save to a disk Select the amount of information you want to include. You can choose as little as a brief citation or as much as the full text of the article (if available through EBSCOhost). Include any other pertinent information such as address RefWorks NEW!!! This is our new licensed product for collecting references and formatting bibliographies at UPS. General RefWorks information: Instructions for using RefWorks with EBSCOhost databases like PsycINFO: Always double-check to confirm that references in your bibliography conform to the style you are using and that data has imported properly Set up Alerts for Your Topic / Save Your PsycINFO Search Strategy Once you have found a combination of search terms that give you good results, you may wish to save that search strategy to revisit at a later time or to run automatically on a periodic basis (alerts). Both options require you to sign up for a username / password, but these passwords will work for any EBSCOhost database. Perform search in PsycINFO Check results to see if the search gives you good results Click on search history / alerts tab Click on link to save searches / alerts Log in (or set up EBSCOhost account) to enable you to save your search Choose to save your search strategy (for 24 hours or permanently) or to save your search as an alert Fill out the brief form to name the search, etc. To retrieve or change your saved searches or to change your alerts, use the appropriate link (retrieve searches or retrieve alerts) that is found on the search history / alerts tab 12

13 Important Terminology Boolean Operators Words used to connect subject headings or search sets in your PsycINFO search strategy. The two most common are: AND - Used when you want each publication listed in your final search results to include at least one subject term from each search set. For example aggression AND parent-child relations retrieves only publications that include both topics. OR - Used when you want each search result in your final search set to include subject terms from one search set or another but not necessarily both. OR is usually used to connect similar terms. For example aggression OR aggressive behavior. *Searches may also include combinations of Boolean Operators. For example: (aggression OR aggressive behavior) AND parent-child relations Broader Terms: Subject terms that are one step broader and less specific than the main subject heading being viewed in the thesaurus. Explode (a subject term): Search simultaneously for a subject term and any more specific, narrower terms that exist for that subject term. If you do not explode a subject term you will only get articles on the broader term (like Aggressive Behavior) but not for any of the more specific terms (like Attack Behavior). Major Concept: When selected, you will search for a subject term only if it is considered one of the most important topics of the publication, rather than a more peripheral topic. It is a good way to narrow your search results if you get too many to look through. Narrower Terms: Subject terms that are more specific than the main subject term being viewed in the thesaurus entry. If some, but not all, of the narrower terms listed apply to your topic, you may select only the narrower terms that apply. If all narrower terms apply, just explode. Related Terms: Subject terms not directly broader or narrower than the main subject term in a thesaurus entry, but which are similar to the main term in some way. From the thesaurus, select any related terms that seem to apply. 13

14 Get Additional Assistance Drop in at the Information Commons The student at the Information Commons desk can assist with things like checking to see if we have a journal at UPS, or will refer you to either the librarian on call or to the Psychology Librarian. General assistance may also be found by ing libref@ups.edu Make an Appointment With June Lembo, the Psychology Librarian June Lembo - jlembo@ups.edu, Library Room 117, x2875 Finding Psychology Journal Articles: Handout Overview Pre-Search Preparation... p. 1 Go to PsycINFO. p. 1 Find Subject Terms for Your First Keyword. p. 2 View the Thesaurus Entry for a Subject Term.. p. 3 Find Your Next Search Term.. p. 4 Combine Searches. p. 4 Refine Your Search Results.. p. 5 Look Through Your List of Search Results.. p. 6 Check the Journal Locator / Article Linker.. p. 8 Identify the Name of a Journal from PsycINFO Search Results.. p. 9 Find Your Article After Linking to a Database or Web Site.. p. 10 Where to Look if the Journal Locator Shows that UPS Has the Article In Paper or Microform... p. 11 Request Articles Not Available at UPS (Interlibrary Loan)... p. 11 Print / / Save Your PsycINFO Search Results.. p. 12 RefWorks NEW!!... p. 12 Set up Alerts / Save Your PsycINFO Search Strategy. p. 12 Important Terminology.. p. 13 Get Additional Assistance... p. 14 Document created by June Lembo Y:\Courses\psychebscogeneralfall06.doc Last Update: September 12,