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Purpose:
This tutorial is designed for UA Psychology students. By actively working through it, you will be able to better do the following things:
Search PsycINFO to identify relevant articles, using a powerful and flexible Boolean strategy.
Get the actual articles--online or otherwise--using Article Linker.
This side of the Tutorial (the left side) gives explanations and directions.
The left side also includes many "answer boxes " for your input.
Do not leave an answer box blank. You'll need to fill all boxes in. Otherwise, your answers cannot be sent.
Your answers are sent to your TA.
On the right side of the Tutorial, you will work with Search Strategy Builder and with the PsycINFO.
While working with PsycINFO you will have to close various pop-up windows. Don't accidentally close the Tutorial window. Also, don't click the Refresh of Reload button! This would wipe out your work.
Take your time to read the directions. Jumping ahead might be confusing.
This tutorial focuses on boolean search strategy. It does not cover the extremely useful PsycINFO Thesaurus.
A box for your comments is provided at the end of the Tutorial.
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
-- James Thurber
What do you want to find out? What do you want to understand?
In the box below, describe the general topic you are interested in. (A couple of sentences)
Example of Research Topic: I'm kind of interested in optimism/pessimism and its role in college success. Does an optimistic attribution style provide protection from discouragement in coursework?
Enter your research topic here.
To move from a general topic to a research question, you usually need to focus on the relationship between two or more variables. In my example, I decide to focus on the effect of optimism on academic achievement.
In the box below, write your research question. The question should be written in a complete sentence, and it should center on the relationship of two variables (or concepts).
Example of Research Question: What is the relationship between the optimism/pessimism of college students and their academic achievement?
Enter your research question.
Click here for the Search Strategy Builder
First of all, this is not a search engine. It is a tool that translates your ideas into computer-speak. Search engines from Google to PsycINFO are powered by Boolean logic.
This form structures your concepts with Boolean operators: AND and OR.
Look at your research question above. What are its 2 or 3 key concepts? A key concept is one that must must be addressed in any article that is useful to you.
In the top cells of the Search Strategy Builder, enter your key concepts. Each concept will be atop its own column. If you don't have a third key concept, that's fine. Leave that column blank.
Example: • Concept 1: optimism • Concept 2: college students • Concept 3: academic achievement
After inserting your key concepts, click the "Create a Search Statement" button located below the concept boxes on the right side of the screen. (Scroll down, if needed)
A brief search statement, based on your concepts, appears in the box below the Search Strategy Builder. (This search statement could be pasted directly into PsycINFO. But we'll hold off for now.)
Copy this search statement, and paste it into this box: Enter your search statement.
Naming your key concepts is an important step. After all, search engines are good at dealing with discrete chunks of data like this. But remember: search engines are clueless about what things mean!
When I use the concept "college students," you understand that this includes "undergraduates." But PsycINFO will not understand this...unless you tell it.
That's why the next section shows how to cluster alternative terms to "fill out" for your concept.
Consider your first concept. Brainstorm alternative terms for this concept. Type these alternative terms into the cells in the appropriate column.
Make sure the right side of the screen is still at the Search Strategy Builder
Brainstorm:
Example:
For the concept: academic achievement, I would type these alternative terms into the first column. They represent the concept "academic achievement":
Have you typed in alternative terms for your first concept?
OK, now do the same thing for your other concepts.
When you're done, click the "Create a Search Statement" button on the right side of the screen.
Notice how the resulting search statement is structured. This is the pattern for most Boolean searches.
(a OR b OR c) AND (x OR y OR z)
Copy your Search Statement into the box below. Enter your expanded search statement.
Open PsycINFO
At the UA, we use PsycINFO in the EBSCOhost interface. Each search engine has slightly different search rules. Here's how EBSCOhost works.
a word or words that begin with the stem "social" social socially socialize, etc.
It's good to get a feel for how various searches perform. Test your predictions in the exercise below.
Using the table provided below, you will conduct six quick searches. Follow these steps:
In PsycINFO, the number of results is shown above the actual records, in the upper left corner. It looks like this:
1 - 20 of 2631
To get started, run the first search: stroop.
Copy the number of results into the answer box, then make a prediction on the next search string. Repeat.
A. Search string
After you guess, run this search in PsycINFO
If you think this search will find more results than the search above it, enter "more" below.
Otherwise, enter "less"
C. Actual results
Record the actual number of results.
Move to the next search down, and repeat step A, B, and C.
Important: In PsycINFO, use one search box to represent one key concept.
In the example we have been using, we would enter the search statement in PsycInfo in the following way:
Now enter your 2 or 3 concepts. One concept per box. (You will need to scroll up to your first search statement under Search Strategy Builder, Step 1 and copy it into PsycInfo.)
Notice that the boxes are already linked by the Boolean AND.
Click "Search". How many results did you find?
When you limit your search you "zero-in" on records that meet special criteria. We look at three common limits below.
Peer Reviewed Journals. Scholarly journals are written for experts in an academic discipline. Many of these journals use a quality control filter called peer review. Peer reviewed articles, before being published, have been formally "vetted" by a group of experts in the discipline. Limiting your search to peer reviewed journals increases the quality and trustworthiness of the information you use.
Empirical Studies. Many times, you aren't looking for literature reviews, or book review, or theoretical papers--you are looking for original empirical studies. There is an easy way to limit to these.
Publication Year. Sometimes the currency of information is very important. You can limit to the last five years, etc.
For this exercise, we want to limit your previous search to peer-reviewed journals, to empirical studies, and to the last ten years. Keep applying these limits, even if your search "zeros-out."
How many results are you left with?
After all this limiting, you end up with a smaller results set. In fact, you may have "zeroed out." This is likely if you start with a small set to begin with, and then apply limits. The answer is to start with a larger set. Follow the tips below to improve your search.
By linking multiple terms in a concept box, you greatly increase the probability of getting more results.
In my box for academic achievement, I type in my alternative terms:
academic achievement or academic success or class rank or GPA or test scores
I do the same for my other concepts. (You will need to scroll up to your second search statement under Search Strategy Builder, Step 2 and copy it into PsycInfo.)
In PsycINFO, under your first concept, enter your alternative terms linked by OR. [OR can be lowercase]
How many results do you get now?
Wildcards let you search for both singular and plural forms of words. This increases relevant results.
Use a wildcard to pick up alternative suffixes of words:
Apply wildcards to your search, where appropriate. Press Shift, 8 for the asterisk
Many of the articles in PsycINFO are available online. Others are available in a printed version. And some are not owned by the Library.
Article Linker is a new feature that helps you locate the actual articles across all the Library’s collections and databases.
The following exercise will show you four sample records in PsycINFO. Each record has a different “twist” in locating the article.
Click here for the sample records. This will open a new window.
Notice the links at the bottom of the record.
Click "Linked Full Text." Look for the PDF link, and click it. The PDF opens. Close the PDF window. At the EBSCOHost window, click the Back button to return to the list of sample records.
Note: We connect to many different publishers. Each publisher handles full text links differently. You sometimes need to explore the page to find these links!
There is not Linked Full Text option here.
Click Article Linker.
A window opens. Article Linker has found an online copy of the article.
In the new window, click the PDF link. Close the PDF window. Close the Article Linker window.
Click Article Linker This time no online article was found. But don’t stop there. Search the Library Catalog.
Click this link: "by ISSN (suggested)" A catalog record opens for your Journal “Psychologist.” This is a print journal owned by the Library.
Your article citation is for Vol. 16. The Library has Vol. 1-18, so your article is available.
The journal is in a bound volume in the Main Library at the call number shown.
Close the two pop-up windows. Be sure not to close the Tutorial.
Click Article Linker No online copy was found. Try "Search the Library Catalog by ISSN" and "By journal Title".
Neither search is successful, indicating the library doesn’t have this journal.
Close the UA Library Catalog window.
If you still want the article, click on the link in Step 2. This is the Library's Inter-library loan service. The article will be delivered by email in PDF form. And it is free to UA students, staff, and faculty.
Close the Sample Records window. Be sure not to close the Tutorial.
Click here for a sample record
Try to get the article for the following PsycINFO record. There are three possible outcomes:
Congratulations. You're almost done.
We are interested in knowing whether you learned anything useful, and specifically what you may have learned. We are also interested in finding what you found confusing or not essential in the Tutorial. Thanks.
For questions or research assistance, please contact one of your psychology librarians, Chris Kollen or Jen Tellman.
Comments:
Modified by Chris Kollen and Jen Tellman, Social Sciences Librarians, Spring, 2007 © 2005-2007, Arizona Board of Regents. All rights reserved.
