PsycINFO Theory Searching Edith Scarletto escarlet@kent.edu

Library Home Page To search the databases, click on alphabetical list under Find it: Articles from the library home page.

Choose a database Click on P in the alphabet tool bar; then scroll down to find PsycINFO current file.

PsycINFO Current File Choose your connection type. On campus, is self explanatory; Off campus access: Kent Proxy, or Ohiolink authentication. Check out the library website for directions on how to use off campus resources. Not all databases are available off campus (Ageline, is only available on campus).

Keyword searching in the Thesaurus This is the search page. Make sure the radio button next to the Thesaurus is marked. Type your keywords into the search window. Check the box beside the HUMAN limit to exclude animal experiment reports. Click the Search button.

View Thesaurus Choose how you want to search your term. Look at the explanation of Search, focus, etc. For more information, choose View Thesaurus.

Thesaurus terms Here you can view related terms, broader, etc. You can choose to search multiple terms by checking the boxes beside them, and using the drop down box to combine with Boolean operators and click Combine terms. (For help choosing Boolean operators refer to the handout in your packet.) WE are going to use the Expand/focus to find major subject headings and combinations with major headings.

Results list 2900 records are returned on this topic. To narrow the topic, click the Search Menu button, and we can search another term.

Search a theory or theorist Your previous search is saved in the history at the top of the search screen. Enter the name of the theory you want to associate with your development issue; or a theorist you want to examine. Now click the search button.

Choose the correct theory/ist View the thesaurus to narrow the theory, or theorist

Choose the theory/ist Choose any related terms you would like to add to the search by checking the boxes next to a term, and use the boolean operators to combine them. “OR” will result in searching both terms at the same time and returning all results in one set. For this search, click Expand/focus

Erikson results list We got 149 results. Lets go back to the search menu and combine this with the previous search

Combine sets Check the box next to each set you want to combine. For this search we will use the AND operator, from the pull down menu. This will find material that has both topics in each one. Now click combine sets

Reading results 17 are returned; that is more manageable to review. Click on the Next button to see additional material. Keep in mind books, chapters, articles, etc. are in the list. Click on any title to view the abstract.

View a summary Here we see record 9 summary. Scroll down to see the subjects, both adult development and Erikson are listed. That is why we found this material. Now look at the abstract and see if it is useful. We can see that it is a book chapter by looking at the Source information. If it looks good, click Find a Copy to see who owns the item.

Find a copy screen The Find a copy screen is a popup window. It shows that this is a book, and someone at Ohiolink has it. You can see that Chapter 6 is our material from the search. To find out if Kent owns the item, click on the Libraries button in the middle.

Find the item Scrolling down the page, you see that Kent is listed. Now look down to the Kent listing; Main building guide means it is in the main library; the call number is listed beside; and it is listed as available. This means you should be able to find the book on the shelf, and check it out. If you need to know which floor the book is on, look at the first two letters of the call number and find the yellow half sheet in your packet. For this book the letters are BF. Can someone find the floor? BF is on the 9th floor. Close this window to return to search results.

Return to title list Click the Title List to return to the results list and choose another item.

Finding a journal article Here is a journal article. (Look in the source area to find the title of the journal with volume and issue). To find out how to get to the article, click on Find a Copy again

OLinks Screen The Olinks screen is another popup window that tells you where and if Kent state owns the item. The top box scrolls to show campuses where the print copies are. Scroll down and see if Main is listed and which years we have (here only to 2003!!). Below the box is the citation of the article with info you will need for the bibliography, is says the article is in 2005, so no print format is available. You will have to use the full text link at the top of the screen. Click on this link to see the full text of the article.

EJC (Electronic Journal Center) The EJC has many electronic copies of journal articles (NOT ALL JOURNALS ARE IN THE LIST). Not all articles are available online!!!! 98% are not available unless you use library resources. You cannot get this article from GOOGLE!!! Click on the PDF link to see the article. PDF means it looks like a photocopy of the article.

Viewing, printing PDF articles To print/save the article you have to use the PDF buttons, not the File; print menu. Let’s start with print.

Printing a PDF article Choose the black and white printer from the pull down menu (especially if you are in the Library). Check the number of pages you will be printing (7 cents a page in the computer labs or library for b/w pages- 14 cents per color page). Click OK to print. Don’t forget to copy and paste the url into a document to save for your bibliography. Close the window to return to the search results in the database.