Level Up Your Research
💡 Psychology Keywords
Combine keywords with populations or contexts; use AND for multiple concepts, OR for synonyms.
- Population: Who or what is being studied (e.g., college students, healthcare workers).
- Context: Where or under what circumstances the study takes place (e.g., workplace, social media).
- Variables: What is being measured or tested—independent (cause) and dependent (effect).
Quick Examples:
Emotion & Mental Health:
stress coping AND college students AND online learning
emotional regulation AND adolescents AND school
Cognition & Learning:
decision-making AND college students AND social media
memory AND older adults AND lab tasks
Behavior & Social:
workplace behavior AND employees AND remote work
leadership style AND nonprofit organizations AND virtual teams
💡 Find #SubjectHeadings
When you find an article that looks promising, click the subject headings (in blue) to find similar articles.
Think of these like a hashtag; if you can figure out what the experts are calling your topic, you'll find more!
Using the Thesaurus in PsycINFO
- The Thesaurus lists preferred subject terms for organizing articles.
- DE = Descriptor → the official subject term the database uses.
- Searching with DE finds articles specifically tagged with that concept, not just any mention.
Example:
- DE "Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity"
- DE "Driving Behavior"
💡 Follow the Trail of Research
Look at the sources listed at the end of a good article or book—they can point you to more research.
Journal article: Check for volume, issue, and page numbers.
Book: Look for a city and publisher.
Search the title in the library catalog or journal finder to see if we have access.
💡 Find an Article from a Citation
Example (APA 7th):
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5–13.
Option A: Search by Article Title
- Enter the article title in quotes (e.g., “The eclipse of listening”) in Onesearch.
- Review the results – check that the title and author match your citation.
- Click Full Text to access the article.
Option B: Search by Journal
- Enter the journal title (e.g., The New Criterion) in Journal Search.
- Select the journal from the results
- Find the correct volume and issue from the citation
- Find your article title in the issue
Tips
- Check coverage dates: Some databases only go back to certain years.
- Use quotes for exact article title searches.
- No links? → request via InterLibrary Loan
Ask a librarian if you’re stuck – we’re happy to help! Email library@hiram.edu
💡 Master Reading Scholarly Articles
The trick to quickly grasp a scholarly article’s key ideas is to read it out of order: start with the abstract, jump to the conclusion, skim the introduction and topic sentences, then read the full article for details if relevant to your topic.
