Tag: APA Thesaurus

Using the APA Thesaurus to Find Relevant Articles on a Topic

Posted on by Marta Soto 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 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.

APA thesaurus terms, also called index terms, are controlled vocabulary used in database records to make searching easier and more successful. By standardizing the words or phrases used to represent concepts, you don’t need to try and figure out all the ways different authors could refer to the same concept.

The first video, Building a Search with the APA Thesaurus and Index Terms, is an introduction for all platforms that shows what the thesaurus is, why it is a valuable search tool, and what to do if you can’t find a thesaurus term to fit your research concept. 

The second video demonstrates how to use thesaurus terms in an APA PsycInfo search to find relevant articles on a topic, and how to revise a search to include additional thesaurus terms. 

Select the video for the platform or website that hosts APA PsycInfo at your institution. 

Learn more about the APA Thesaurus on our website. 

New Thesaurus Terms for Searching APA PsycInfo (Summer 2024)

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

 

In June, APA added 96 new terms to its Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms® to provide more effective searching on current topics, including employment, education, and diversity. This Thesaurus update also includes 61 new cross-referenced terms, and 122 revised scope notes.

New terms from this Summer update will initially be applied to current content only; following the Fall 2024 release, the majority of 2024’s new postable terms will be back-mapped to older records.

NEW POSTABLE TERMS

Use this link to access the list of postable terms on our website.

 

Using the controlled vocabulary of the Thesaurus means a database search will quickly and accurately retrieve all publications related to a specific concept, regardless of the keywords the authors may have 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, 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 Thesaurus changes on our website or view the PDF for more details. 

Related Resource: 
YouTube playlist – Using the APA Thesaurus to Find Relevant Articles on a Topic 

New Thesaurus Terms for Searching APA PsycInfo (Winter 2024)

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians

In February, APA added 70 new terms to its Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms® to provide more effective searching on current topics, including military psychology; population health; and racial, ethnic and cultural groups and issues. This Thesaurus update also includes 55 new cross-referenced terms, and 75 revised scope notes.

New terms from this winter update will initially be applied to current content only; following the Fall 2024 release, the majority of 2024’s new postable terms will be back-mapped to older records.

a list of new thesaurus terms screenreaders can view the PDF version of this list https://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/training/thesaurus-update-winter-2024.pdf

Using the controlled vocabulary of the Thesaurus means a database search will quickly and accurately retrieve all publications related to a specific concept, regardless of the keywords the authors may have 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, 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 Thesaurus changes on our website.  

Related Resource: 
YouTube playlist – Using the APA Thesaurus to Find Relevant Articles on a Topic 

New Thesaurus Terms for Searching APA PsycInfo (Summer 2023)

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians

 

In June, APA added 76 new terms to its Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms® to provide more effective searching on current topics, including therapy and treatment; artificial intelligence, machine learning, and neural networks; and research integrity and ethics. This Thesaurus update also includes 55 new cross-referenced terms and 76 revised scope notes. 

New terms from this summer update will initially be applied to current content only; following the fall release, the majority of new postable terms for 2023 will be back-mapped to older records.

Full list of New Postable Terms that can be found in the PDF for the full list of Thesaurus changes on the APA website, also linked below.

New terms in the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms as of June 2023

You can see the full list of Thesaurus changes on our website.  

Related Resource: 
YouTube playlist – Using the APA Thesaurus to Find Relevant Articles on a Topic 

New Thesaurus Terms for Searching APA PsycInfo (Fall 2022)

Posted on by Marta Soto in For Librarians
In October, APA added 25 new terms to its Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms® to provide more effective searching on current topics, including cannabis use, socioeconomic status, and health problems related to alcohol use. This Thesaurus update also includes 50 new cross-referenced terms, 147 revised scope notes, and additional edits to historical notes.
Examples of new Postable terms include Alcohol Induced Psychotic Disorders, Dihydroxyphenylalanine, Incarcerated, Low Vision, Research Psychologists, and Thought Disorders. Use the link at the end of the post to view the full list of Thesaurus change on the APA website.

Using the controlled vocabulary of the Thesaurus means a database search will quickly and accurately retrieve all publications related to a specific concept, regardless of the keywords the authors may have used.

Continue reading →