In July 2020, APA added 102 new terms to the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms® to provide more effective searching on current topics such as COVID-19 and inequality.  

Most of these new terms are mapped back and added to previously published records in APA’s databases. This thesaurus update also included 30 new cross-referenced terms, and new and revised scope notes.

The 9,800+ index terms found in the Thesaurus provide precise and consistent terminology for searching all APA research databases. Using the controlled vocabulary of the Thesaurus means a database search will quickly retrieve all items about a specific concept no matter what keywords the authors used.

The Thesaurus tool is found on all platforms as part of APA PsycInfo® and redirects synonyms to the preferred “Use” term to include in your search. Each thesaurus record includes links to broader terms, narrower terms, and related terms, along with the year the term was introduced, an historical note if applicable, and a scope note providing definition and application.

You can see the full list of new thesaurus terms on our website.

Related Resource:

YouTube Tutorial – Using the APA Thesaurus to Find Relevant Articles on a Topic

Welcome to “From the Deck of . . .” a series in which we highlight search demos and other information from the slide decks we create for our live training sessions. You can view and download these materials from the APA Publishing Training SlideShare account.

At the Medical Library Association’s Annual Meeting earlier this month, APA presented a virtual exhibitor seminar. This session:

• Previewed the new platform for APA PsycTherapy
• Demonstrated searching with new thesaurus terms added last month
• Discussed the 2021 APA Books Clinical E-Collection
• Described APA’s free resources about the Covid-19 pandemic

You can review the slides from our MLA 2020 Exhibitor Seminar on our SlideShare account.

Or, if you registered for MLA this year, you can watch the recording.

Our Beyond Subject Searching webinar is designed for librarians and other expert users of APA PsycInfo. If you’re looking to expand your search skills, or just need an APA Databases refresher, we hope you’ll join us!

This 45-minute session includes a behind the scenes look at the APA PsycInfo record structure and a live search demo that shows how use APA Databases for more than just locating articles.

Search examples include:

• seeing the types of research being done at a particular institution
• identifying journals in which to publish new work
• finding grants and sponsorships
• locating tests and measures

Continue reading →

The 2020 Virtual Meeting of the Medical Library Association will take place Monday, August 10 – Friday, August 14.

APA will present an Exhibitor’s Seminar on Tuesday, August 11 from 8:30 am – 9:30 am (CST). This training will preview the new platform for APA PsycTherapy, demonstrate searching with new thesaurus terms, and discuss the 2021 APA Books® Clinical E-Collection.  

To attend our training, login with your MLA registration account and add our APA Seminar as a “Favorite.” “Join Here” will open five minutes before the seminar begins; there is no registration needed to attend.

You can also join APA for a Virtual Chat from August 10th – August 13^th, between 11:30am – 3pm CDT.

Hope to see you there!