1. WHAT IS PSYCINFO?
AN OVERVIEW OF THE
PSYCINFO DATABASE
by
MARK HABER
THE COLLEGE OF NEW
GILL LIBRARYROCHELLE
January 2012

2. PSYCINFO FACTS
 PsycInfo is an abstract database of psychological
literature from the 1880’s to the present.
PsycInfo contains bibliographic citations and
abstracts from:
Journal articles
Books
Chapters of books
Dissertations

3. You can limit your search to full text, peer
reviewed journal articles

4. Free text search “manic depression”

5. Click “Subject: Major Heading”

6. Click inside the box to the left of “Bipolar
Disorder” then click “Update”

7. Controlled Vocabulary
Agreed upon term for a subject or concept
Manic Depression USE Bipolar Disorder
Marital Adjustment USE Marital Relations
Miscarriage USE Spontaneous Abortion
Parental Participation USE Parental Involvement

8. Use of Thesaurus
List of PsycInfo Subject Headings
Scope Note (PsycInfo’s definition of the term)
Other Terms (Broader, Narrower, Related)

9. To go to the PsycInfo Thesaurus, click
“Thesaurus”

10. Type “manic depression” and click “Browse”

11. Click “Bipolar Disorder”

12. The scope note and other terms are listed

13. Boolean Searching
 Combine Search Terms
 “AND” narrows the search (retrieved item must have
all the terms)
 “OR” broadens the search (retrieved item can have
one or more of any of the terms)
 “NOT” limits the search (retrieved item does not
have the term)

14. divorce and parent child relations and
emotional adjustment

15. Click on the title for detailed record

16. This is the detailed record for the article

17. Scroll down to read the abstract (summary)

18. Scroll up and click “PDF Full Text”

19. This is the full text article

20. Truncation
 The asterisk* at the end of the root of a word
retrieves the word and all forms of the word
 Adolescen* retrieves adolescent, adolescence, etc.
 Parent* retrieves parent, parental, parenting, etc.
 Home* retrieves home, homeless, homesickness, etc.

21. adolescen* and parent* and home*

22. Retrieving the full text
 Some articles are available full text
 Others can be requested at the Circulation Desk
 Journal articles, books, and dissertations that are not
owned by CNR can be ordered via Illiad

23. Click on the title for detailed record

24. This is the detailed record for the article

25. Scroll down and click “Search for Article”

26. Next to “Print Holdings” click “Journal”

27. Print holdings of the journal
“Psychological Reports”

28. Advantages of Using PsycInfo
 Contains journal articles, books, and dissertations
 Comprehensive Thesaurus
 Boolean Searching