Webinar Alert: PsycINFO Sessions for Students & Faculty This Fall

Keyboard with rainbow colors reflecting off of it

Google Keep note art by sage solar on flickr.

Our fall series of webinars for students and faculty is starting on September 28, 2016. Help us spread the word to faculty, students, and anyone who teaches research methods.

APA provides free training webinars tailored for PsycINFO® searchers at all levels of proficiency. We feature three 30-minute sessions: Basic Search, Advanced Search, and Results Management. The sessions may be taken separately, but we encourage interested students to take all three and offer the sessions on consecutive days. These webinars are an ideal way for students to get a refresher on PsycINFO if they have had training earlier in the semester.

Descriptions are provided below. Visit our website to register today for these no-cost sessions.

Research Methods instructors and other faculty: If you would like your students to attend for extra credit, we offer certificates of completion for each session.

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. Continue reading

In Case You Missed It: New Terms Added to the PsycINFO Thesaurus

In November 2015, we released an update to The Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, the source of the controlled vocabulary used in indexing PsycINFO® and the other APA databases. This particular update was significantly larger than previous vocabulary updates, containing 227 new Index Terms.

In December, we shared the details of the update, highlighting some of the new terms and other changes that were incorporated. We also provided a document with the full list of Index Terms included in the update.

Did you miss that post? Take a look! It explains several important points about the new terminology, including a change to the language used to tag research on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Related Resources

Changes to the Thesaurus sometimes impact search alerts and saved searches. For example, when a new term replaces an older term, saved searches and search alerts created with the older term will no longer generate updates. In this update, 5 terms were changed such that any saved searches or search alerts that use them will no longer retrieve the desired results.

Here are the terms that were changed, along with the new Index Terms that have taken their places:

Terms that are now Use references New Index Terms to search
Aspergers Syndrome
Autism
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Complications (Disorders) Sequelae
Q Sort Testing Technique Q-Sort

 

For assistance in updating your search alerts, please see our post PsycINFO Expert Tip: Updating Search Alerts When a Thesaurus Term Changes.

Exhibits Update: American Psychological Association Annual Convention

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The American Psychological Association Annual Convention will be held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO, from August 4-7, 2016. Look for representatives from the American Psychological Association’s Databases and Electronic Resources group in the exhibit hall, at booth 438. Stop by to learn more about APA Style CENTRAL®, an exciting new electronic resource for APA Style®, and get the latest updates about APA Journals, Books, and Databases.

Throughout the conference, stop by for a demo of APA Style CENTRAL. You’ll receive a voucher for a free t-shirt, and will be eligible to enter a raffle to win an executive duffle or backpack. We also hope you’ll join us for a reception to celebrate the launch of APA Style CENTRAL. The reception will be held in booth 438 on Friday, from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Exhibit Hours:

  • Thursday, August 4: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Unopposed exhibits-only hour: 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.)
  • Friday, August 5: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Unopposed exhibits-only hour: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.)
  • Saturday, August 6: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Coffee with the Exhibitors: 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.)
  • Sunday, August 7: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

 

This post has been edited to correct the date of the APA Style CENTRAL reception.

PsycINFO Expert Tip: Classification Codes

Have you ever noticed the Classification Codes in PsycINFO® and wondered what they’re for?

Screenshot of the Classification Codes limiter on APA PsycNET.

The Classification Codes limiter on APA PsycNET.

Our indexers tag and categorize each item in PsycINFO so searchers can more easily locate exactly what they need. Classification Codes categorize an item, such as a journal article, by its main theme. Each item receives one, sometimes two, Classification Codes. Continue reading

From the Deck of . . . The ALA Annual 2016 Lunch & Learn

Welcome to “From the Deck of . . .” an irregular 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 our SlideShare account.

We recently presented our Lunch & Learn training session at the American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition. One of the items we covered in this session was a review of working with cited references in PsycINFO® on all of the major vendor platforms: APA PsycNET®, EBSCOhost, Ovid, and ProQuest.

Being able to successfully navigate cited references data allows you to identify where a particular piece of research fits into the larger research continuum. You can see what led to that research, and how it influenced the research that followed. It’s also a great way to help a student who’s brainstorming dissertation topics, or a researcher looking for a new area to explore. Continue reading