(Video: Search Options | Video: Viewing Results)
This tutorial will provide the steps to searching and retrieving information from the PsycINFO database. Within this tutorial you will find video clips to allow you to view sample searches.
Psyc Info Results ImageAccessed through Online Research Resources
With more than 2 million records from 1806 to the present, PsycINFO provides citations with abstracts to the scholarly literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. Included is coverage of 2,000 journals plus book chapters and books. With the UIUC's version linking to PsycARTICLES , you have access to full text articles from major American Psychological Association journals, with coverage beginning in 1985 for most titles. PsycARTICLES is integrated into the PsycINFO database .
If the full text of an article is available, you will see a full text link to the right of the article record in your search results. Please note that PsycARTICLES are only a subset of the entire PsycINFO database, and that a thorough literature search should take non-PsycARTICLES sources into account.
PsycINFO is available through various database providers, but UIUC has selected the version available through Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA).
To see the results of a search, click on the tab of the items you want to display at the top of the screen. This will automatically display brief results.
The display options listed within the brief results are outlined with explanations in the attached window.
The PsycINFO database contains citations/abstracts to journal articles, book chapters, books, and some dissertations. Only a segment of these will have full-text links.
Find an electronic version of the journal through the Journals and Newspapers tab of the Online Research Resources page and either read/print/save the article.
Find a print version of the journal in the I-Share Online Catalog or Worldcat catalog, visit the library, and copy the article in the library that owns the journal
If you need an article that is only available in print from UIUC, and if you are a distance education student, you may request assistance from Academic Outreach services. You can also use Doc Express or Interlibrary Loan to purchase an electronic copy. If the article you need is in a journal that is not available at UIUC in either print or electronic format, then you will need to request that the article be sent to you via interlibrary loan.
Find the book in the I-Share Online Catalog and check it out or copy the relevant pages
Check your nearby libraries (community colleges, universities, and so on) for books that you can check out or copy relevant pages. The Worldcat catalog can provide locations of books in libraries worldwide
If the book you need is not available in I-Share, then you will need to request that it be sent to you via interlibrary loan or through Academic Outreach.
Journal articles and books are typically cited according to certain style guides.
Detailed information about citing books, book chapters, or journal articles is available in various Style Guides. See http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/writingguides.htm for more information about those guides.
If you use the RefWorks software to manage your citations, it will automatically format your reference lists according to various style guides. In PsycINFO select the records you want to export (check the boxes). Click on the RefWorks icon and then export to Refworks.
Keywords: will give you more extensive results, but may not be as focused.
Descriptors: generally more precise because each article has been reviewed and assigned the most appropriate subject terms (descriptors).
Search Tools:
Note: Keep in mind that PsycINFO is a psychology database, so the focus will be on the psychological impact or strategies used in relation to your topic. Also, if you restrict to PsycARTICLES, you will miss out on many other full text journals that are available through the Online Research Resources page.
Many other searching options and strategies are available and necessary at times, including the ability to limit your retrieval in various ways, customize your results display, mark, save, email or print the results, etc. In the PsycINFO database there is a help button image button that will lead you to tips on searching the database.
Contact the reference staff at the Education and Social Science Library via our Ask-A-Librarian page at or in-person for additional assistance!
University LibraryFor comments on this page contact: Digital Learning Librarian
Last modified by: Sarah Hjeltness on 1/16/09