PsycInfo - Searching by Methodology

Searching for empirical studies, literature reviews, or meta-analyses in PsycInfo is easier than you think.
In CSA, select PsycInfo and click on Continue to Search. Click on the Search Tools tab at the top, then click on the Indexes Tab. Use the Indexes pull-down menu to select the Methodology Index. Click on Go.
A list of the various types of article methods will be listed below.

Checkmark the types of studies you are interested in and click on Search at the left. This will generate a search by methodology. Click on the Quick Search or Advanced Search tab and generate a search on your topic. To combine your topic search with the methodology search, click on Search Tools tab and click on Combine Searches. At the bottom of the screen you will see your searches with their assigned search number. Combine your searches in the search box using their search numbers including # (for example #1 and #2) and click on the green search button.

PsycInfo - Harnessing the Power of Subject Searching

Nothing saves time and energy like really effective database searching. The key is to find the right words. PsycInfo (located on the Access Online Databases page in CSA) has amazing indexing which allows you to search for Descriptors (assigned subject terms) in a number of ways.
-"Find a good article then find more like it" - The easiest approach is to do a keyword search on your topic in PsycInfo. Once the results list comes up, find the perfect article. Click on the title to look at the full record. Scroll down to the Descriptors section. Checkmark all the Descriptors that are meaningful to your topic, then click on Go. This will automatically combine those descriptors, generating a new search that closely matches your topic.
- Thesaurus - With some topics, there is just so much out there. The good news is that PsycInfo has a thesaurus built in that allows you to understand what Descriptor terms are used, what they mean, and the relationships between terms. To use the PsycInfo Thesaurus once you are in CSA, click on Search Tools and then click on Thesaurus. After typing in your term to the thesaurus, you can checkmark terms and click Search at left to generate a new search based on the perfect term(s).
There is much more to learn about using thesauri in database searching, please contact the librarians at refdesk@itp.edu if you have further questions.