Brief Instructions for Using PsychINFO

Description. PsychINFO is a bibliographic system for psychology and related areas (e.g., education, linguistics). PsychINFO catalogues references for journal articles, books, and dissertations. The web-based search system is accessible from on campus or off campus.

How to get to PsychINFO. Go to the UIC library homepage. From the QUICK LINKS/Shortcuts list choose IBIS (ERIC, Current Contents, etc.) and click on GO. Next click on the Start Ovid button (you don’t need to enter an user ID). Scroll down the list and choose PsychINFO (there are two options, don’t choose the historic back file). A search menu will appear.

How to search for a topic. To search for a topic, enter keywords for your topic and click on Perform Search. You will either be presented with the results of your search or a new screen with a list of keywords. For example, if you enter READING as your keyword, the next screen will present a list of related terms, such as READING ABILITY, READING ACHIEVEMENT, and READING COMPREHENSION. You can choose one of these terms (to narrow your or expand your search) or leave your choice as READING. After selecting a keyword, click on the Continue button. You will then be presented with the results of your search. For example, if your search term is READING, you will see a display listing your search term and the number of items found. (5904 items were found when I did this search. The number of items you find might not exactly match this number because the database is regularly updated.) If you click on Display, the titles will be listed in groups of ten. Click on the Next Citations button to display successive screens.

Refining your search.  The search for information on READING is too broad to be very useful. You can combine search terms to narrow your search. For example, suppose your topic is bilingual reading. Conduct a search using BILINGUALISM as a keyword. This will produce 2204 hits. Conduct another search using READING as a keyword. This will produce 5904 hits. Now click on the combine icon at the top of the screen. Select each item, make sure the “combine selections” setting is AND, and then click on the Combine Searches button. This will narrow your selection to 48 items.

            Combining searches is one of the best ways to reduce the number of items found. As another example, pretend your research topic is language use by dolphins. Conduct a search using the keyword phrase ANIMAL LANGUAGE. You will find that ANIMAL LANGUAGE is not an identified keyword phrase, but ANIMAL COMMUNICATION is a known keyword phrase. Select ANIMAL COMMUNICATION and click on the Continue button. You will get 1841 items. Conduct another search using DOLPHIN as a keyword. DOLPHINS (plural) is a known keyword. Select it click and on the Continue button. This will produce 205 hits. Now click on the combine icon at the top of the screen. Select ANIMAL COMMUNICATION and DOLPHINS and then click on the Combine Searches button. This will narrow your selection to 30 items.

How to search by author. If you find an author who conducts research on your topic, you can search for that author. For example, enter RANEY GARY (last name, first name) as your search term then click on the Author icon. You will get a list of authors. Select RANEY GARY and RANEY GARY E and then click on the Perform Search button. This will produce 15 items that include me as an author.