Database Guide - PsycINFO

PsycINFO covers the professional and academic literature in psychology and the behavioural and social sciences. It spans the literature to include the psychological aspects of related disciplines such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, pharmacology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business and law. Produced by the American Psychological Association it covers the psychological literature from the 1800s to the present and currently features 4 million bibliographic records from more than 2,300 journal titles.

Use PsycINFO to locate scholarly research findings from the historical to the cutting edge and to source information about about psychological tests that have been used in research and written about in the literature. View the APA’s set of FAQs for PsycINFO to learn how you can search for psychological tests.

• Go to LibrarySearch 
  
  
• Log in using your CCCU username and password. If you are away from campus, or connecting with your own device over Wi-Fi, you will need to include @canterbury.ac.uk after your CCCU username.
  
  
• Select Find Databases, then click on P, finally click on the link to PscyINFO (OVID) to open it in a new tab.

View the video produced by OVID Look at Chapters 6 to 8 for a brief view of how to conduct a quick search and Chapters 9 and 10 for an advanced search. (Once loaded, click on the paper icon to view the captions)

Try searching PsycINFO by following the steps outlined below. You’ll practice using some of the most common functions and be ready to search for information for your assignments.

1. Using the Advanced Search, search for the keyword cbt. Once taken to the mapping page, you will see a list of terms which are the prescribed labels that PsycInfo uses to tag articles.
   Check the box next to the closest match, in this case Cognitive Behavior Therapy. (Hint: not sure what the blue term means/covers? Try the Scope icon on the right-hand side).
   
   
2. Clear the Advanced Search box and search for the phrase virtual reality. Once again, choose the term that best matches. (Note: sometimes you may want to search for your exact word rather than using the prescribed headings, simply choose the term at the very end of the list.)
   
   
3. Using the Search History function (located above the search box, in the top left-hand corner of the screen), combine your keywords by checking the box next to each item and using the AND button. How many results do you find?
   
   
4. Using the left-hand panel, refine your results to those published in the Past 5 years.
   
   
5. Find an interesting article from your results list and see if you can access the full-text of the the article.
   
   
6. Reflect on the type of information appearing in your search. How will you use this information in your assignments? How could you make your search more specific?

Your Learning and Research Librarian will be able to help you make the best use of online resources. For detailed guidance, book a tutorial via the Learning Skills Hub.