Getting Started with PsycINFO

PsycINFO provides access to journals, books and books chapters, and dissertations and theses in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and related social and behavioral sciences.

Finding the right terms

PsycINFO has a thesaurus that lists the terms that are being used to describe the items indexed in the database-- what they are 'about.' It is a good idea to check to see that you are using the best terms for your topic.

Sometimes you'll see a term in the alphabetical list and then the word USE and another term, such as:
parental influence USE Parent child relations

This means that the preferred term is Parent child relations

Terms in the thesaurus will often include scope notes or operational definitions that describe what is meant by a word or phrase when used for indexing in the database.