Psychology Resource Guide

Results Troubleshooting in PsycINFO

Previous: Full Text | Next: How do I... Too few results View one of the better citations that you have. Look at the terms listed in the subjects list for that item. Conduct a new search using the subject terms that are closest to what you are looking for. Use sources cited in a good source to find more sources [Show me how to find subject terms from a reference] [Show me another way to find subject terms] [Show me how to find sources based on other sources] Too many results Too many and don't know which ones to keep Read general sources to find out more about the topic to figure out which aspects to focus on Specialized encyclopedias Textbooks Review articles Add terms found in your general sources to narrow your search [Show me how to find encyclopedias and textbooks] [Show me how to find review articles] [Show me how to narrow a search by adding terms] Too many but know which ones want to keep Look at the subject terms for a good item and narrow search by adding terms [Show me how to find subject terms] [Show me how to narrow a search by adding terms] Results miss the mark Figure out what is wrong with the results--this may require some detective work to put your finger on exactly the source of the problem. One source of results that are off-topic is that the words used in the search have multiple meanings, and the results include items with a meaning different from what was intended. For example, a search in default fields for "AIDS" gives results about hearing aids, as well as acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Looking at the individual results for the search term in bold can help you see if this is the source of the problem. This problem can be fixed by replacing your search term with alternate search terms that mean the same thing (e.g. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome for AIDS) or by adding terms to narrow the search (e.g. HIV AND AIDS) Another source of results that miss the mark is that the term you are searching for appears in fields that you didn't intend. For example, if you are searching for articles about the brain and language a search in default fields for brain and language gives items that are published in the journal Brain & Language. To fix this, search just in the abstract or just in the title to narrow the search, or try using the subject terms. Sometimes results that miss the mark can be a combination of problems. For example, in a search for items about the American Psychological Association, searching in default fields for American Psychological Association gives results that are published by the American Psychological Association. Limiting the search to items with American Psychological Association in the Abstracts helps, but it doesn't narrow things down to only items about the American Psychological Association. The thesaurus does not give any subject terms for the American Psychological Association. At this point adding other terms could help. It would narrow the topic down more. Maybe there is nothing WRONG with the results. They are on topic, but they are not the kind of results that you wanted. For example, they may go into too much detail about a topic, when you just wanted an overview. There may be animal studies when you wanted human studies. At this point, using limiters, can help. For example, you could limit the results to just literature reviews or to just human studies. [Show me how to narrow a search by adding terms] [Show me how to find subject terms in the thesaurus] [Show me how to narrow a search by using limiters] Want more results like an item that already have found Follow entries that cite the item you already have Follow entries that are written by the same author as the item you already have Follow entries that were cited by the item that you already have [Show me how to find related items] Previous: Full Text | Next: How do I...

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