Performing a Basic Search

Scroll down the list of databases on the right, and select PsycINFO. Click on PsycINFO again from the list of EBSCO databases. The Basic Search screen will appear.

Our search topic is: 

What is the relationship between sleep disorders and behavior disorders in children?

When doing a  Basic Search, you may enter a single word or a phrase to represent the topic. 

For example:
Enter sleep disorders in the box next to Find, and click on Search. How many records did this search retrieve?

This number of records is far too many to sift through. We need to refine (modify) our search to retrieve only the most useful items.

How Do I Refine a Search?

Use Boolean Operators

In Basic as well as Advanced Search we may combine terms with Boolean operators to focus on the most helpful information.

What terms should we try? 

First identify the key concepts in the search question:

"What is the relationship between sleep disorders and behavior problems in children?"

All of these concepts should be represented in our search.

On the PsycINFO Basic Search page, enter the three concepts listed above, combining them with the Boolean operator and. Then truncate them, as shown below.

sleep disorder* and child* and behavior problem*

Click on Search. Notice the number of records that you retrieve. Since all of the important concepts are included in the search, many of the retrieved citations should be "good hits." 

Limit Your Search

The next step in refining your search is to use limiters to retrieve only the most useful records. Limiting is especially important when you retrieve an unmanageable number of hits. For an explanation of the limiters that are available in Basic Search, click here. 

You may access the options for limiting your search by clicking on the "Refine Search" tab at the top left corner of the Results List. For this search, apply the following limiters:

Publication Year - 1990-2006
Check "English"
Age Group - Childhood (birth to 12 yrs)

The Results List appears in brief format; that is, only the citations are given. To view the abstracts with the citations, follow these steps:  

This procedure accesses a detailed abstract for each entry and avoids the necessity of clicking on each individual title to obtain more information about the article or book.

Click on the second title in the list, and scroll through the record. You will see detailed information about the article. Using that information, answer the following questions and send in an email to your Instructor at mfpriebe@kings.edu (title the subject of the email PI02.htm):

  1. What is the title of the article? 

  2. What is the name of the journal that contains it? (the Source)

  3. What subject headings are listed?

  4. Is this a peer-reviewed journal?

  5. How many references (citations) are listed for this article?

  6. Is the full text of this article provided?
 

Go back to the Result List by clicking on Back or on the Result List link at the top left corner of the screen.

Saving items in your folder

As you scroll through the list, when you see articles that interest you, click on the Add folder on the right. The records will be kept in your Folder and can be printed, saved, or emailed when you have completed this part of your search.

 

Practice 

Try it out. Select three articles that you think address the topic well, and place them in your folder. Scroll up and click on "Folder has 3 items," and email or copy them to mfpriebe@kings.edu After you have sent them, click on Continue and then Back to return to your Results List.

In the next section, we will discover how to use the thesaurus to have more precise and effective searches.

When you complete these exercises, click here to close this window.