What is PsycINFO and how do I use it?
Answer
PsycINFO is an Ebsco-hosted database that collects journals and studies regarding psychology. You can reach it from the Databases list by sorting to P or selecting Psychology from the subject dropdown list.
You can reach it from the direct link here, and if you are planning on using it from off-campus, please bookmark that link as it includes the proxy server.
From the advanced search page you can not only type in the keywords you are looking for in a study or article, but also select from different search options including the type of journal, the population group studied, their ages, the methodology of the article, what kind of material you are looking for (book, chapter, interview, review, journal article, etc).
If you are unsure of the search terms to use, if you click on the Suggest Subject Terms above the search box, it will offer you subject terms that are linked with the items in the database. It will also take you to a page where you can check off the box next to each term you are interested in finding articles for. You can click on any of the terms to get more information about them including broader terms, and related terms.
When you get to the search results you can use filters on the left hand side to narrow your search results further by methodology, classification, subject and other options. You can click on either the pdf or html full text links below results you are interested in if it's present, or the Find Full Text link which will either bring you to the full text within our databases or direct you to the interlibrary loan portal.