Psychology: Searching APA PsycInfo

Over time, there are variations in the terminology used to describe concepts. Different authors may also use different vocabulary. The APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms maps all of these related terms to one Subject Heading. Subject headings are words or short phrases that are added to the records of every item in the database. Subject headings use a ‘controlled vocabulary’, meaning there is only one word or phrase used to describe a specific concept. Many health science related databases utilize a thesaurus, not just PsycInfo! Terms are updated every few years, so new or emerging concepts may not be included when you search. We suggest you conduct Subject Heading as well as keyword searches about your topic.

In the example below, we searched in the thesaurus for "heart attack". The thesaurus tells us that we need to use "myocardial infarction" instead of heart attack.

• We recommend that you search using your terms as keywords and also search the thesaurus for subject terms.
• Want to locate pioneering studies? Sort your search results by Oldest to Newest
• Include an * (asterisk) at the end of a keyword when searching. This is called truncation and it tells the database to return any form of the word. For example, skateboard* will return skateboard, skateboarding, skateboarder, etc
• "Cited References" in a record will tell you what sources that item cites. Think of it as what came before the item/study that you are reading.
• "Times Cited" in a record will tell you what sources cited that item. Think of it as what came after the item/study that you are reading.
• Ask a librarian for help!