PsycARTICLES Help Guide

The following is a description of how search for articles in PsycARTICLES.
Access our printable handout for sample screen images that correspond with the explanation.

Searching

Here is how to search in PsycARTICLES for an article:

• Enter in the text entry box/es the keywords of your topic. Try to include only one word or two word phrases in each box.
• Narrow your search by choosing to search by author, subject terms, or other options by using the drop down menu next to each text entry box. If you do not pick an option, you are performing a general keyword search. In other words, the database will look for your terms in any part of the article record.
• Under the search options, you can choose to narrow your search parameters in "Limit your results" in the following ways:
  • Click on the select box for "Full Text" to find only articles that appear in their entirety in this database.
  • Limit by age group by selecting the preferred group in the drop down menu next to "Age Group."
  • Limit by research methodology by selecting the preferred method in the drop down menu next to "Methodology."
  • Limit by population group by selecting the preferred group in the drop down menu next to "Population Group."

Results List

Once you have entered the search information listed above and hit the "Search" button, the following information and options will appear:

• Results appear in date descending order (most recent first). You can change it to sort by relevancy ranking by clicking on "Date Descending Sort" directly above the title list and choosing "Relevance" from the drop down menu.
• To see one of the articles listed in your search results, click on the title of the article.
• On the left hand side, you can further refine your search in the following manner:
  • Clicking on "Exclude Book Reviews" removes book reviews from your results list.
  • Entering the beginning and ending dates limits your articles to ones published during the entered range.
  • Clicking on "Subject: Major Heading" and marking the subjects listed that are relevant to your research.

Article Record

Once you click on an article title, the following options and information for the article record appear:

• The "Abstract" provides a short summary of the article.
• If you click on one of the "Subject Terms" listed, you can find more articles about the subject selected.
• If you click on "PDF Full Text" on the left side of the screen, you can see the whole article, including images and graphs.
• You can either print or e-mail the article to yourself by clicking "Print" or "E-mail" on the right side of the screen.
• Clicking "Cite" on the right hand side of the screen will cite the article in APA, MLA, Chicago, or Turabian style. 

General Tips for Searching

• All the full-text articles contained in PsycARTICLES are from scholarly journals.
• Truncate your terms with an asterisk (*) to find more results.  For example, type comput* to find the words computer or computing.
• Search for exact phrases with quotation marks (“”).
• Use just a few key words in your search.  The database will not look for common ‘stop words’ like: been, however, so, or, in, etc.
• Check the “Thesaurus” at the top of the search screen to find the best words to use in this database.
• When a singular word is searched, the plural and possessive forms of that word will also be searched as long as you do not put your search term in quotation marks (“”). For example, a search for the phrase alley cat could also search for all of the following: alley cat, alley cat's, alley cats, alley's cat, alley's cat's, alley's cats, alleys cat, etc.

Need additional help?
Ask a Reference Librarian!

• Des Plaines Campus Library, 2nd floor, 847.635.1644
• Ray Hartstein Campus Library, Room A200, 847.635.1474

10/11 (2010 pdf)