Video
This 5-minute video will show you exactly how to go from choosing your topic and aspect of development to performing an effective search in PsycINFO, an essential database in psychology and the social sciences.
Setting up your search
Below is a text version of the content in the first half of the video.
I will show you an example of how I might go about this task. Go ahead and choose a topic of interest. Some of the topics shared by your instructor as examples include chronic illnesses, self-esteem, and anxiety disorders. I will choose the example topic “longevity.”
I will also need to choose an aspect of development. These include biological, cognitive, socio-emotional and contextual factors and forces.
With longevity, maybe I am interested in the role cognitive factors play.
However, there is a problem with simply doing a search on ‘longevity’ and ‘cognitive.’ Using the general term for an aspect of development may or may not get you good results in a database. That is because most academic articles are not written about general issues, but are instead written about particular research studies focusing on a more specific issue. So before searching, you’ll want to ask yourself, what is a cognitive factor in longevity?
For me, one obvious option is memory. That is a more particular issue that is an example of cognitive issues that may play a role in longevity.
Just to share another example, if you were to choose biological factors instead of cognitive factors, you might choose to focus on particular biological issues such as genetics or nutrition.
So now that I have my topic and aspect of development chosen, I am ready to jump in to the search.
Start at the Libraries’ homepage. Select Databases under popular services and resources. Select Psychology from the All Subjects drop down menu.
And, select APA PsycInfo. APA PsycInfo is the largest database for psychology and related social sciences fields that we have access to at BSU, and is one of the most well-known and established resources for psychology research.
Let’s add the search terms longevity AND memory. One important guideline to follow here is to try to break your topic down into keywords and not add long phrases or sentences to the search boxes. I’ll select search.
I can further improve the search by taking a look at the APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index terms. (See video for details) The improved search looks like this:
