PsycINFO Database: How to use it

This guide includes links and tips to assist in your search for information and critical studies using the PsycINFO Database. 

Remember, librarians can help you with your research. 

• Ask a Librarian
  • 386-747-9028 (call or text)
  • libref@stetson.edu
  • Stop by the library and ask for a Librarian
• Request a Research Consultation
  • Set up a one-on-one appointment with a librarian for personalized research assistance.

• Content in the PsycINFO database covers 1887--present and includes over 5,400,000 records from 2,400 indexed and abstracted peer-reviewed journals.
• PsycINFO updates twice weekly with new research and scholarship.
• Since 1987, English-language books and chapters from books have been included.  Abstracts of dissertations are also included.

Basic Search

To conduct a Basic Search, first type your keyword(s) or phrase in the Basic Search box. 

• You may combine terms using the Boolean (logical) operators: AND, OR, NOT
• Parentheses may be used to group terms.
  • Examples:
    • assessment OR evaluation
    • assessment AND surveys
    • (assessment OR evaluation) AND surveys
• You can use the truncation symbol (the asterisk*) to find plurals and all variations of a word.
  • Example:
    • dream* retrieves dream, dreams, dreamy, dreamland, etc.
•  The wildcard symbol (the question mark?) should be used within words. To use the wildcard, enter your search terms and replace each unknown character with a ?.  PsycINFO finds all citations of that word with the ? replaced by a letter. 
  • Example:
    • ne?t will find neat, nest, or next. It will not find net because the wildcard replaces a single character.
• Searches are NOT case sensitive.
• Use double quotes to search for phrases. The words within the quotes must be found right next to each other and in the order in which you typed them.

Underneath the search bar, there are options to filter your search to only those results that provide linked full-text or are marked as peer reviewed. You can also click on All time and choose to search only for research published in the last year, 5 years, or 10 years.

Click on the magnifying glass to conduct your search.

The results of your search will appear in a list ranked by relevance, but you can change how the results are listed by clicking on the down arrow next to Relevance. There is also an option to apply additional filters and narrow down the number of search results by date, source type, publisher, population, methodology, and more.

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search function allows you to further specify your search terms and keywords by applying additional parameters to your results. Stetson has set EBSCOhost preferences to open to the Advanced Search screen rather than Basic Search because the former provides more filtration options and limiters, such as for peer-reviewed articles or empirical research only.

On the Advanced Search screen, you may choose to select Boolean operators from a drop down menu rather than typing them into the search box. There is also the option to define search fields for your keywords; for example, you can search for resources that have a specific keyword or phrase in the title, abstract, or table of contents by choosing "Title - TI," "Abstract - AB," or "Table of Contents - TC" from one of the "All Fields" drop down menus.

Additionally, PsycINFO provides a list of Filters to further define your desired parameters before conducting your search. Here you can choose to search only for sources with full text options linked, sources that are peer reviewed, or Stetson titles only. You can also specify certain publication years (i.e. 1996-2020), a specific publisher (i.e. Routers, Elsevier, etc.), languages, relevant age groups, methodology, and more. Many of these same options to limit or focus your results will be available after completing a search; the options appear along the left-hand side of the result list screen.

Next to the Filters tab, Search Options contains additional restrictions for changing the search mode or applying expanders. "Find all my search terms" is the default search mode, but you can also switch to "Find any of my search terms," which will automatically add Boolean operator "OR" in between all search terms, or "Proximity," which searched for terms in proximity to one another. Expander options like "Apply related words" will include instances of synonyms and plurals of your terms in your search results list.

Visit these webpages from EBSCOhost to learn more about search modes and expanders.