General Information on Writing an MSOD Thesis/Dissertation

PsycINFO contains nearly 2.3 million citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, dissertations and technical reports, all in the field of psychology. Journal coverage, which spans from 1887 to present, includes international material selected from more than 2,100 periodicals in over 25 languages.

Why use PsycINFO - comprehensiveness!

To use Advanced Search with Guided-Style Fields:

1. Click the Advanced Search link below the Find field.

2. Enter your search terms in the first Find field on the Advanced Search screen.

3. Choose the search field from the optional Select a Field drop-down list (for example, search in only the Subject Terms field of the citation).

4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the second set of Find fields.

5. Select a Boolean operator (AND, OR, NOT) to combine the two Find field entries.

6. You can enter another Boolean operator, keyword, and search field in the third set of fields.

7. If you need additional rows, click the Add Row link. Up to 12 rows can be displayed. To delete a row, click the Remove Row link.

8. Select from the available Search Options:

Search modes - Use specific search modes, such as "Find all of my search terms," or "SmartText Searching," or use search options that expand your search such as "Apply related words."

Limit your results - such as Full Text or Publication type.

Special Limiters - Apply limiters specific to a database. If you select a special limiter, it is applied only to the database under which it appears

9. Click the Search button. The Result List displays. The search field is displayed above the Result List. Your search terms, limiters and expanders are retained. To revise your search, you can apply the limiters under Refine your results. Click the Show More link to view all available limiters and expanders.

The Result List Screen has three columns:

•Left - Limiters and Clustering

•Middle - Results Display

•Right - Related Information You can hide or show the different areas by clicking the control arrows at the top of the left and right columns.

Left - Limiters and Clustering The Left Column displays the Bread Box feature, Limiters, and Clusters

•Bread Box - Click the toggle arrow to open the Bread Box. The Bread Box keeps track of the numbers of results, your search terms, search options, and clusters applied to your search.

•Limit your results – Apply limiters right from the Result List. Click a hyperlinked limiter to apply it or select multiple limiters and click Update. A revised Result List displays. (You can refine your search even more by clicking the Show More link under Limit your results.)

•Clustering – You can narrow by source type, subject, journal, author, and more. This feature, also known as “clustering,” is helpful if you want to discover the major subject groups for your topic without having to browse multiple pages of results, or checking individual articles to see if they are relevant.

◦To narrow your results, check the box for one or more subject terms in a section of your choice and click Update. A new Result List, limited to the chosen term or terms is displayed and the list of subject terms is refreshed.

Click on the link below: