Tutorial Thursday: Using PsycINFO Classification Codes on EBSCOhost

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

It’s Tutorial Thursday! 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: Using Classification Codes in PsycINFO on EBSCOhost.

Screenshot of tutorial title screen for Using Classification Codes in PsycINFO (EBSCOhost)

For a more powerful and precise search, you can include PsycINFO Classification Codes in your query. Searching all fields or the “Keywords” field in a database is an easy way to start your research, but using these numerical codes from the APA Thesaurus will help you retrieve the resources you need more quickly and effectively.

Classification Codes are assigned by APA indexers to categorize documents in the PsycINFO database according to the primary subject matter. They are especially helpful for targeting your results when a search term can mean different things in different contexts, or when you want to search broadly.

This three-minute video demonstrates how to use PsycINFO® Classification Codes when searching PsycINFO (and other APA databases) on the EBSCOhost platform, and includes:

  • Description and examples of PsycINFO Classification Codes;
  • Where to find the complete list of PsycINFO Classification Codes; and
  • How to apply these codes to narrow your search to the most relevant results on the EBSCOhost platform.

This tutorial is a great resource to link from a LibGuide or course module for any class working with APA Databases on EBSCOhost, 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 to link to this new version.

Related Resources:

Webinar Alert: PsycINFO Sessions for Students & Faculty – August 9-11, 2017

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

Our next series of PsycINFO® webinars for students and faculty will run on August 9, 10, and 11 from 11 – 11:30 a.m. EDT. The sessions may be attended separately, but we encourage those who are interested to take all three, so we offer them on consecutive days:

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

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: APA Style CENTRAL Trainings for August 2017

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

APA’s training specialists have developed several webinars for librarians, instructors, and students interested in learning more about using APA Style CENTRAL®. These sessions include content overviews and a live demonstration of features.

Would you like to arrange a training session just for your class or colleagues? Please contact us at support@apastylecentral.org, and our training specialists can schedule a session just for you!

Click on any session link to register (all times are EDT).

APA Style CENTRAL Online Introduction introduces librarians to the platform:

Teaching with APA Style CENTRAL details how faculty, librarians, and other instructors can use APA Style CENTRAL in teaching APA Style:

Writing Papers in APA Style CENTRAL teaches end users how to create and save papers using APA Style CENTRAL:

For more information, including the full training schedule, visit the APA Style CENTRAL webinars page.

Apply by 7/31 – APA Librarian Conference Travel Award for Fall 2017 Conferences

Posted on by Patti Avellanet in For Librarians

Do you work in an academic or health sciences library in the United States? Are you an early- or mid-career librarian? Are you looking for sources of funding for a conference you’d like to attend this spring?

If the answer to all of those questions is yes, please consider applying for an APA Librarian Conference Travel Award! Through July 31, 2017, we are accepting applications for conferences taking place from September – December 2017. This includes – but is not limited to – the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, the Charleston Library Conference, and Internet Librarian International.

The award is intended to help defray conference-related expenses for librarians with less than 15 years of experience after receiving their MLS. Three cash awards are distributed three times each calendar year, and the application cycle opens and closes on a rolling basis. At this time, we are not limiting the conferences that are eligible for travel award funding. Applicants should identify the conference that best meets their professional needs, and explain how attendance will support their current duties and future goals.

Continue reading →

APA PsycNET® – Updated Search Guides available

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

Starting on Monday, July 17, APA PsycNET® has a new look and feel, and we’ve updated our search guides to reflect these changes.

 

If you need help getting started, please see our Quick Reference Guide.

 

For more detailed information about the fields you’ll see in the record and on the advanced search page, please see our Record Structure.

 

Interested in further training? Have questions? We’re offering 30-minute webinars to tour the APA PsycNET updates.