Category: For Librarians

APA Style CENTRAL® Expert Tip – Adding Paper Sections

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians, For Students

When you start writing a paper in APA Style CENTRAL®, you choose a template and then choose either the Student assignment or Professional manuscript version. The difference is that the Professional version includes three additional paper sections – an Author Note, an Abstract, and Keywords.

You can add these fields to a paper that was started using the Student template.

 

Click on the Customize Paper Sections on the upper right, and then select to Include Author Note, Abstract, and/or Keywords.

The Abstract and Keywords will be added as sections ahead of the Body on the left side, and Author Note will be added as a section within the Title Page.

If you have started a paper in the Professional template, and don’t want to use these fields, just leave them blank.

Updated Help Pages

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians

At the end of last year, we reviewed and updated the APA PsycNET® help pages to make sure the content was current and easy for our users to navigate.

 

The main help explains how to set up a search, manage the results list, use your MyAPA Account, the Browse menu, and other tools you’ll see on APA PsycNET®.

http://help.psycnet.org/en/

 

The PsycTESTS help explains searchable fields and the record structure that are unique to the PsycTESTS® database on APA PsycNET.

http://help.psycnet.org/en/psyctests-help/

 

The admin center help is for library administrators and explains how to customize for your institution, view usage statistics, and use other tools in the APA PsycNET Admin Center.

http://help.psycnet.org/en/admin-center-help/

 

Something missing? Let us know! psycinfo@apa.org

In Case You Missed It – Searching By Keyword, Index Term, and More

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

In January of 2017, we posted about searching APA PsycInfo® by different vocabularies – keywords, index terms, classification codes, and MeSH.

In case you missed it, start the new semester off with a better understanding of which vocabulary will suit your needs.

Keywords (also called Key Concepts or Identifiers) – individual words, key concepts, or brief phrases that describe the document’s content; usually provided by the author or publisher.

Good for researchers who are new to a topic.

Index Terms (also called Subjects or Subject Headings) – are chosen by APA staff from Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms®.

Good for the focused researcher. 

Classification Codes (also called APA PsycInfo Classifications) – a descriptive term plus a corresponding numerical code; like the index terms, there is a pre-existing list, or controlled vocabulary.

Good to pair with keywords or index terms.

MeSH – Medical Subject Headings are a controlled vocabulary maintained by the National Library of Medicine for their PubMed database.

Good for medical or neuroscience topics.

To learn more about any of these search vocabularies, review our post on them from January 2017.

Related Resources:

APA PsycInfo Expert Tip – Searching by Keywords Across Platforms

APA PsycInfo Expert Tip – Classification Codes

Tutorial – Using APA PsycInfo Classification Codes on EBSCOhost

APA training events at ALA Midwinter 2018

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians

Will you be at the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Denver this February? We hope to see you at our Lunch & Learn!

American Psychological Association Lunch & Learn @ ALA Midwinter

Sunday Feb 11, 1-2:30

RSVP link

 

This year’s session will include a look at keywords, index terms, and other searchable vocabularies on PsycINFO across multiple platforms, including a look at the new APA PsycNET interface. We’ll demonstrate APA Style CENTRAL’s Writing center, showing how a student would use it to start a paper, add citations and references, find contextual help, run checks, collaborate, and adjust paper settings.

 

Be sure to RSVP if you plan to attend. Walk-ins are always welcome, but priority will be given to participants who register in advance. Please note that we will be unable to admit family members or others who are traveling with you.

 

If you can’t attend the session, please stop for a demo and updates at Booth 1446.

Tutorial Tuesday: How (and Why) to use the APA Thesaurus on APA PsycNET

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

It’s Tutorial Tuesday! In this series, we explore APA’s library of video tutorials available on the PsycINFO® YouTube channel and the APA Style CENTRAL® YouTube channel. Please feel free to link to or embed our videos in your library websites or LibGuides, course management systems, or other locations where students, faculty, and researchers will find them.

We recently updated one of our tutorials: How (and Why) to Use the APA Thesaurus on APA PsycNET®.""

How can you be sure you are finding the best results for your search?

By using the best search terms! The APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms (“APA Thesaurus”) contains the controlled vocabulary that APA uses to describe and categorize all content indexed in PsycINFO. This resource is regularly updated to include new and changing terminology for topics in the behavioral sciences, and you can put it to work for you!

Using the APA Thesaurus helps you eliminate “noise” from your search and retrieve the most relevant results by revealing the best search terms for your topic. The APA Thesaurus is a valuable tool for students new to research or any researcher who is new to a topic area and may not yet know the best terminology for searching.

This brief video (2:40 minutes) demonstrates the benefits of using the APA Thesaurus when searching databases on the APA PsycNET platform, and includes:

  • Examples of recent terminology updates to the APA Thesaurus;
  • How to access the APA Thesaurus when crafting a search;
  • Using the APA Thesaurus to find related terms for narrowing or expanding your search;
  • Discovering index terms for broader concepts that encompass your research topic and make searching more efficient; and
  • Uncovering additional search terms you may not have considered.

This tutorial is a great resource to link from a LibGuide or course module for any class working with APA Databases on APA PsycNET, and can be helpful in answering email or chat reference questions.

The previous version of this tutorial will remain available, but if you have embedded or linked to it anywhere, we encourage you to update your materials with the link to this new version.

Related Resources: