Psychology

Using the APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms helps users determine the "vocabulary of the database": the terminology used to define and represent key ideas, theories, and subject populations.

1. Load APA PsycInfo.

2. Click on "Thesaurus" (to the right of Advanced Search)

3. Search for keywords. Scroll down the list to see indexed APA search terms. If you see this window icon  that is a search term that is included in database's index. Clicking on the window icon will pull up a definition for the term, as well as list of related terms you can also plug into your search.

4. If you see a listed term without a window icon, clicking on the term with pull up a recommended alternative index keyword. For example, if you click on the term "cognitive health" you'll see that the thesaurus recommends "cognitive ability" instead.

5. Other features to know:

• Explode — Direct the database to search for both the main index term PLUS all the specific narrower terms that are nested beneath it (when you click on the plus sign to the left of a term). This is a good strategy for broadening your searches as it will generate a longer list of results.
• Major — Direct the database to search for articles where the original term is the dominant focus of the work. This is a good strategy for narrowing your searches as it will generate a shorter list of results.

6. Use Boolean operators (AND/OR/NOT [located in bottom right of the Thesaurus window]) to link between keywords. See more information on Boolean operators on the Using APA PsycInfo.

7. Select thesaurus terms for your search by checking the ticker box to the left of index term. Finally, click on the green Add to search button to move the selected thesaurus term into the PsycInfo search boxes.

You can also look through older editions of the thesauri in print on the fifth floor of the Milner Library.