PsychINFO Tutorial

Performing a Basic Search

Basic Search

A Basic Search can often meet your research needs. However, it does not provide all of the options that are available in an advanced search. In a Basic Search you may:

use Boolean Logic.
use truncation.
perform various types of searches (keyword, subject, title, and author).
consult the Thesaurus for subject terms.
select the most commonly used limiters to focus your search and eliminate unwanted citations.

In this tutorial, you will be using a split screen so you can read the directions while you are progressing through the search. You will see the directions on the left, and the EBSCOhost list of databases will appear automatically on the right. Scroll down to click on PsycINFO.

In the future, when you want to use PsycINFO from a computer on- or off-campus, follow these steps to enter the database:

From the King's College web site, click on Library.
Select Databases from the menu on the left.
Scroll down to PsycINFO and click.
Click on PsycINFO in the list of EBSCO databases. The first screen that appears is the Basic Search Screen.

Click the image above to try an exercise!

Now that we have tried a basic search, we are ready for the next step. Please click on "Using the Thesaurus" below.