1. How do I search for my research question or theory?
- Identify the keywords of your topic and use those as your search words.
- Each book and article has tags assigned to it, words or shorts phrases that make each book or article searchable
- You want your search words to match those tags
- Words like impact, benefits, effects, or causes are not used as tags
- Example topic: Does physical exercise provide any memory benefits to elderly people?
- Search: physical exercise memory elder*
- elder* searches for elder, elders, and elderly
2. I have too many irrelevant search hits. How do I focus them to my assignment requirements?
- Use Refine Results on the sidebar of your search hits to focus them to sources more relevant to your assignment needs
- You can focus your search hits to:
- peer-reviewed or scholarly articles
- source type, such as journal articles, books, newspapers, or magazines
- publication date, so you get the most recent research
- Example: for your research paper, you are supposed to use research-based journal articles with up to date research on your research question
- Under Refine Results:
- move the Publication Date scroll bar over to 2008 to present
- check the box beside Academic Journals under Source Types to find research-based articles
3. How do I know my search words match the tags assigned to articles about my research question?
- As you scroll through the search hits, look at the assigned Subjects (tags), and see if they match your search words
- Example: The articles about physical exercise are tagged with the Subjects Physical Activity and Exercise
- Replace physical exercise with "physical activity" OR exercise
- "physical exercise" searches for physical exercise as a phrase, not separate words
- Use OR to combine key concepts with their synonyms within the search box
- OR finds sources tagged with any of these search words/phrases
- Use AND to combine search boxes
- AND finds sources tagged with all of the key concepts
- Subjects (tags) also help you identify the specific issues around your topic so you can give it direction and develop it into a focused research question
4. How do I identify Populations, Methodologies, and Tests used in my research area?
- Under the Refine Results sidebar:
- click on Methodology to see a list of methodologies used
- click on Age, Gender, and Population to see a list of populations studied
- click on Tests & Measures to see a list of tests and measures used
5. How do I identify articles that cite an article I've chosen?
- Web of Science: use the Web of Science database to identify articles that cite your article:
- Enter your article title and select Title from the dropdown menu by the search box
- Look for Times Cited: # to the right of your search hits - click on the number to get a list of articles that have cited your article
- Click on Full Text from Publisher to read the article
6. I can't find anything on my research question. What do I do?
- The search words you're using to describe your topic may not match the tags that PsycINFO or PsycARTICLES has assigned to books and articles on your research question
- Use PsycINFO Thesaurus to identify the words that PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES use to describe your research area
- There may not be research tying your main ideas together yet.
- Try searching for your main ideas separately and linking their findings together
- If you've found one article that's relevant for your topic, look through the sources in its References list to see if any of them are also relevant to your research
