Example Search in APA PsycINFO

Watch this video to see how to use advanced search with Boolean operators in APA PsycINFO.

 Clicking on the arrow at the bottom of the video will allow you to jump to specific content.

What should I know in order to be successful with my database searches?

In order to be a competent database-searcher, you should be familiar with boolean operators, subject terms, and filters.  

Boolean Operators

AND, OR, and NOT are simple words that carry lots of weight in databases. Knowing how to incorporate these little words into your search will vastly improve your search results. Click through the slides to see how they work: 

Subject Terms

Subject terms are the database's official vocabulary used to describe research publications. These can help guide your search and give you ideas for different ways of describing a concept. Subject terms are also hyperlinked which allows you to get a list of all the research with a particular subject term, similar to hashtags in social media.

Filters

Filters show up on the left-hand side of your search results and enable you to quickly refine your results. Some popular ones include resource type, publication date, and scholarly/peer-reviewed.

How Boolean Operators Work

Click through the slides to see how to search the main concepts of your research topic with Boolean operators.