Psychology
PsycINFO

PsycINFO is a database that contains more than 1.8 million citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, dissertations and technical reports in the field of psychology. Journal coverage, which dates back to the 1800s, includes international material selected from more than 1,700 periodicals in over 30 languages. More than 60,000 records are added each year through weekly updates. Some articles are available in full text online if you search PsycINFO and Academic Search Premier simultaneously and search for articles from peer reviewed journals only. (PsycINFO and Academic Search Premier are both accessed through EBSCOhost.)

Searching Tips
  • Combining Terms with Boolean Operators
    • OR will retrieve items that are indexed by either or both search terms. OR is useful when you need to find more resources - it helps you broaden your search and retrieve larger result sets. Example: sleep OR slumber
    • AND will retrieve items indexed by both terms. AND is useful when you are retrieving too many items in your searches - it helps you narrow your search and retrieve smaller result sets. Example: sleep AND dream
    • NOT will retrieve items that are described by one search term but not by the other search term. NOT is useful when you are retrieving items that are not really related to your topic - it helps you narrow your search and be more exacting. Example: ((sleep NOT death) AND dream) AND study

  • Wildcard (?) and Truncation (*) Symbols are used to create searches where there are unknown characters, multiple spellings or various endings. Neither the wildcard nor the truncation symbol can be used as the first character in a search term.
    • The wildcard is represented by a question mark (?). To use the wildcard, enter your search terms and replace each unknown character with a ?. The database finds all citations of that word witd the ? replaced by a letter. Example: type ne?t to find all citations containing neat, nest or next. Net is not included in the results because the wildcard replaces a single character.
    • Truncation is represented by an asterisk (*). To use truncation, enter the root of a search term and replace the ending with an *. The database finds all forms of that word. Example: type comput* to find the words computer or computing.

  • Proximity Searching is used to search for two or more words that occur within a specified number of words (or fewer) of each other in the database(s). Proximity searching is used with a keyword or Boolean search. The proximity operators are composed of a letter ( N or W) and a number (to specify the number of words). The proximity operator is placed between the words that are to be searched, as follows:
    • Near Operator (N) -- N5 finds the words if they are within five words of one another regardless of the order in which they appear. Example: type tax N5 reform to find results that would match tax reform as well as reform of income tax.
    • Within Operator (W) - In the following example, W8 finds the words if they are within eight words of one another and in the order in which you entered them. Example: type tax W8 reform to find results that would match tax reform but would not match reform of income tax.

  • Field codes can be used in a search. If you don't define limitations on a search, PsycINFO will automatically search in the Title, Translated Title, Abstract, Key Phrase, Subjects, Table of Contents, and Author fields of all documents. To use another field code in your search, enter the two-letter field code before your search terms in the Find box. For example, CT study and sleep limits retrieval to results with study in the Content Type field. Though it is not included as a default, the CT (Content Type) field is useful as a limiter in searching because it tells you the publication type of a document. Example: sleep AND (ct study). The types of documents indexed in PsycINFO include:

    • Annual Report Autobiography Bibliography
    Biography Case Law Comment
    Comment Appended Conference Proceedings/Symposia Editorial
    All Studies Errata/Retractions Fiction/Creative Work
    Interview Letter Literature Review/Research Review
    Meta Analysis Obituary Oral history
    Panel Discussion Professional Policies/Standards Program Evaluation
    Reprint Translation All Classroom Materials
    All Textbooks Curriculum Guide Workbook
    Collected Works Handbook/Manual Self-Help Guide
    Reference Material Dictionary/Glossary Directory
    Encyclopedia Taxonomy Thesaurus
    Selected Readings
For more information on effective library research, go to the American Psychological Association's site on
Library Research in Psychology: Finding It Easily at http://www.apa.org/science/lib.html.
Bibliography of Psychology Reference Sources

Research Guides and Style Manuals
  • Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Call No.: REF 808.02 P976a4 at Reference Desk.
  • Library Use: A Handbook for Psychology. Call No. at OBU: 025.560 2415 R324.
 Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
  • Encyclopedia of Psychology. Call No.: REF 150.321 E56c.
  • Encyclopedia of Psychology. Call No.: REF 150.3 E56k
  • The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology. Call No.: REF 150.321 E56L.
  • Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms. Call No.: REF 016.15 P974t8.
 Handbooks, Reviews of the Field
  • Annual Review of Psychology Call No.: 150.58 A615, v. 11-29; At OBU: v. 8 - present in bound periodicals collection and v. 36-44 on microfiche.
Some Psychology Periodicals
  • Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology: Sept 1997 -- current year is available through ProQuest Direct.
  • Contemporary Psychology: v 1 (1956 -- v. 44 (1999); P/150/Co in microfilm collection.
  • Journal of Experimental Psychology: v. 1 1916 -- v. 103 1974; P/150.72/J in microfilm collection; v. 76 1968 -- v. 82 1969; P/150.72/J in bound collection.
  • Journal of Experimental Psychology: General:v. 104 1975 -- current year; P/150.72/J in microfilm collection.
  • Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning & Memory:v. 1 1975 -- v. 7 1981; P/153/dm in microfilm collection.
  • Journal of Experimental Psychology: duman Perception & Performance: v. 1 1975 -- current year; P/152.1/dp in microfilm collection.
  • Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition:v. 9 1983 -- current year; P/153/dm in microfilm collection.
 Other Resources
  • Biography and Genealogy Master Index is a comprehensive biographical index to nearly 12 million biographies covering contemporary and historical figures throughout the world.
  • Experimental Psychology: Methods of Research. Call No.: 150.724 M148e.
  • The First Century of Experimental Psychology. Call No.: 150.724 F527d.
 Evaluation Sources
  • Book Review Index, REF INDEX TABLES 015 G152
  • Book Review Digest, REF INDEX TABLES 015 B724
  • Magazines for Libraries, REF 050.16 K19m10

This page was last modified in October 2003, by Library Web Master
The contents have not been reviewed or approved by Henderson State University