Category: For Faculty

Webinar Alert: PsycINFO Sessions for Students & Faculty November 30-December 2

Posted on by Customer Relations Staff in For Faculty, For Librarians, For Students

Our next series of PsycINFO® webinars for students and faculty will run on November 30, December 1, and December 2 from 11 – 11:30 a.m. EST (UTC -5). The sessions may be taken separately, but we encourage those who are interested to take all three, and offer them on consecutive days:

We will provide information relevant to all search platforms including APA PsycNET, EBSCOhost, Ovid, and ProQuest. The platform used will be based on the needs of the attendees of each session. For more information on this series, including full descriptions, please visit our website.

These webinars are an ideal way for students to get a refresher on PsycINFO if they have had a previous training session. Please help us spread the word to interested students and faculty!

Webinar Alert: New APA Style CENTRAL Training Sessions on Teaching and Writing for November & December 2016

Posted on by Patti Avellanet in For Faculty, For Librarians, For Students

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APA’s training specialists have developed two new training sessions on using APA Style CENTRAL® for teaching and writing. Each webinar includes a content overview and a live demonstration of features.

Teaching With APA Style CENTRAL covers the platform content, features, and tools that can be incorporated into course and bibliographic instruction. It’s a great way to tour the learning resources that are available. Faculty, librarians, and anyone responsible for teaching APA Style will benefit from this webinar.

Writing Papers in APA Style CENTRAL details the wide range of writing tools and functionality that make writing papers and managing their references easier. Students, end users, and those in instructional roles can all benefit from this webinar.

The November and December schedule appears below; click on any session below to register (Note: All times are UTC-5):

  • Teaching With APA Style CENTRAL (60 minutes):
  • Writing Papers in APA Style CENTRAL (30 minutes):

Interested but unable to join any of these sessions? More will be scheduled beginning in January 2017, and you’ll be glad to learn that we recently posted a recording of the Teaching with APA Style CENTRAL session on our YouTube channel.

You can also view or download the slides for any of our APA Style CENTRAL presentations on the APA Style CENTRAL SlideShare channel.

The schedule for all APA Style CENTRAL webinars is available on our website.

Searching Many Terms at Once on PsycINFO

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Faculty, For Individual Subscribers, For Librarians, For Students

When you begin a review of the literature, it’s important to construct a successful search query that harnesses all the research on the topic. One way to do this is to search for synonyms and related concepts at the same time.

First, list the concepts that you are researching. This can be done with pen and paper. For example, I want to learn more about ADHD in teenagers, particularly at school.

Next, brainstorm alternate terms for each of your concepts. ADHD could also be called: ADD, hyperactivity, or attention deficit disorder. Teenagers could also be called: adolescents, teens, or high schoolers. School could also be called: education, classroom, class, academic, or learning.

Keep the terms you brainstorm for each concept together in their own group – we’ll call these your concept groups. Within the concept groups, you’ll join the terms together with OR. The OR search will find items that include at least one of the terms you include, so you’ll get a lot of results from these searches.

Next, you’ll join the searches you just created for your concept groups with AND. In the type of search we’re building, the AND search will find items that include at least one term from each concept group.

long-search-post-imageOnce you have your concept groups mapped out, you can begin your research on PsycINFO® by following these steps. For more detailed information for your platform – APA PsycNET, EBSCOhost, Ovid or ProQuest – please view our presentation on SlideShare.

  1. Before you type anything, login into (or create) your personal account. This allows you to edit your search, and to save the search to run again later. 
  2. Open your PsycINFO advanced search page. Customize the search by adding more rows for search terms, and changing the conjunction from AND to OR.
  3. Most platforms will search All Text or All Fields as a default. This is a fine starting point, or you can pick a particular field to search, such as Keywords, Abstract, or Title.
  4. Type in the terms for your first concept group: ADHD OR ADD OR hyperactivity OR attention deficit disorder. Run the search and save it to your account
  5. Run the rest of the concept group searches and save them.
  6. Within the saved searches page, you can combine your searches with AND. Save this master search too!
  7. This may be a large number of results to work with. Now that your full search is saved, you can further refine it by adding or removing terms, or adding limits such as document type or methodology. If your project is long term or ongoing, you can run this saved search once a month or once a week to review just the recently published articles on the topic.

For more detailed information for your platform – APA PsycNET, EBSCOhost, Ovid or ProQuest – please view our presentation on SlideShare.

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APA PsycNET: slides 5-13
EBSCOhost: slides 14-21
Ovid: slides 22-29
ProQuest: slides 30-37

 

If you’re affiliated with a college or university, you can ask a librarian for assistance with your search. Subscribers to APA PsycNET® Gold, Gold Plus, and Platinum packages can contact APA Databases & Electronic Resources Customer Relations at psycinfo@apa.org or 800-374-2722.

 

Related Training Resources

Using Index Terms and Keywords (APA PsycNET): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFeyRb73yZM

PsycINFO YouTube Channel playlist: Using the Methodology Limiter: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZhiJFnGuh4whhw0wUwrrYhFWYvbedmiA

Setting up an alert (APA PsycNET): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVdD0UtC-Xg

You may be interested in attending our PsycINFO Results Management training (all platforms): http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/training/webinars-students.aspx

 

Introducing New Features in PsycINFO: Starting Your Research on Ovid

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Faculty, For Librarians, For Students

In August, PsycINFO® added new fields and features to help researchers like you search with greater precision and to include more information right in the record.

Because of the interlinking of APA’s products, PsycARTICLES, PsycBOOKS, and PsycCRITIQUES also include these updates.

Four of the new fields are particularly useful as you begin a research project or assignment. They can help you quickly narrow down search results and spot more information about the topic and why it is important.

  • Impact Statement – A summary like an abstract, but instead of describing the technical process, it explains the relevance of the research to the general public. This can help to justify a research project, especially if you are applying for a grant.
  • Open Access – A flag on the record indicates that the fulltext is available through open access. This provides access to resources beyond PsycINFO.
  • Data Sets – A description of the data set is provided, as well as links for access or download when available. Looking at the data yourself enables you to better understand the research conducted in the published study, and to identify your own project that builds on this previous work.
  • Dissertation Details – Advisor(s), Degree, Institution and Department are included in the PsycINFO record. This helps you to find leaders in evolving areas of research, or note other disciplines that are working on similar topics.

Check out our SlideShare presentation for a guide on using these new fields on Ovid.

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Webinar Alert: Introducing New Features in PsycINFO®

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Faculty, For Individual Subscribers, For Librarians, For Students

Training sessions that discuss new features and enhancements added to PsycINFO this August are now available. These 45-minute webinars explain how and why we updated PsycINFO, define the new fields you will see, and demonstrate how they impact search and discovery.

Recent updates to PsycINFO include powerful new search limits, like open access and impact statements, new fields that connect content across research platforms, like PubMed’s MeSH terms and NIH clinical trial numbers, and additional information added to the Dissertation field. Also, because of the interlinking of APA’s databases, the PsycINFO refresh means that PsycARTICLES®, PsycBOOKS®, and PsycCRITIQUES® records will now include these new features as well.

The upcoming schedule for platform-specific PsycINFO webinars is:

PsycINFO New Features – APA PsycNET® Friday, November 4, 2016                        10:00-11:00 a.m.

PsycINFO New Features – EBSCOhost    Wednesday, November 9, 2016                1:30-2:30 p.m.

PsycINFO New Features – Ovid                 Monday, November 14, 2016                     3:00-4:00 p.m.

All times are Eastern Time.

Can’t make the time scheduled for your platform above? Please email PsycINFO, and if there is enough interest, we will schedule additional sessions.

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These new fields & features are currently live on APA PsycNET, EBSCOhost, and Ovid, and are scheduled to be available on ProQuest in December. Check for status updates on our website.

For more information on these enhancements, please view our blog post New Features Added to PsycINFO. Major changes include:

Impact Statements – Impact statements, which describe the relevance of the research to the general public, are included in PsycINFO records when provided by the publisher. These Impact Statements are in addition to the abstract in the standard scientific format, which will always be included. If you are searching for impact statements using APA PsycNET, limit the search using the “Impact Statement” checkbox.

Open Access – This new field makes it clear at a glance if an article or journal indexed in PsycINFO is available through open access. Since PsycINFO is primarily an abstracting and indexing database, this lets you know that the full-text is available from another publisher just a click away. If you are looking for open access research on APA PsycNET, limit the search using the “Open Access” checkbox.

MeSH – To promote interconnectivity between platforms, the PsycINFO records for items also covered in PubMed will include the Medical Subject Headings used in PubMed’s indexing. This allows users to search PsycINFO using the terms they prefer, or that may be better suited for their research area. On APA PsycNET, the MeSH terms are linked to run a search on PubMed for additional research on the topic.

See all available trainings from APA Databases and Electronic Resources.