Tutorial Thursday – Using the APA PsycInfo Index Terms and Keywords Effectively on APA PsycNet

It’s Tutorial Thursday! In this series, we explore APA’s library of video tutorials available on the APA Publishing Training 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.

A new version of the tutorial Using the APA PsycInfo Index Terms and Keywords Effectively on APA PsycNet is available.

This short video shows how to create an effective search in APA PsycInfo using a combination of index terms and keywords. We’ll discuss what index terms are and their value. We’ll also talk about the difference between keywords and index terms and situations in which you would want to include keywords in your search.

By the end of this video you will be able to:

  • Explain the value of using index terms in a search.
  • Describe situations where it is necessary to use keywords instead of index terms.
  • Use quotes and ORs when searching with keywords.
  • Conduct a search in APA PsycInfo that uses a combination of index terms and keywords.

Related Resource:
Tutorial – Finding Relevant Articles to Answer Your Research Question
APA PsycInfo Expert Tip: Searching by Keyword, Index Term and More

Marta Soto