PSYCINFO

SEARCHING
Hello!
These are some additional instructions to help you with your PsycInfo
Assignment.

If you have questions or need help, please feel free to contact me:

Samantha Minnis
Liaison Librarian
minniss@gvsu.edu

We can email or set up a time to talk on the phone or do a video chat.

How to get to PsycInfo
This link:
https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/psycinfo/advanced?accountid=39473

Or, go to the library homepage- https://www.gvsu.edu/library/

Click on databases
Click on “P”
Scroll to psycinfo
You’ll need to pick a topic that contains
two of these concepts:

Risk, gender, gender differences, risk

propensity, risk seeking, risk avoiding

NOTE: Risk in this case means risky as in

“taking a risk”, not at risk as in “at risk for
a heart attack.”

Identify the main concepts in your topic,

one of which will have to do with gender,
the other of which will have to do with risk.
You’ll then want to think of some synonyms,
related terms, or narrower terms for your
concepts.

For example, for gender you could write

“male” or “female” or “gender roles.”

Think of a few on your own, and as you start

searching you’ll find some more in the
database.
For example:
My topic might be:

Do women perceive more risk when driving a car then men?

My concepts would be: risk and gender

Some narrower or related terms for risk would include: risk perception, risk assessment, risk management

Some narrower or related terms for gender would be: women, men, gender differences
Start searching!
Now you need to find out more about your topic. Go to PsycInfo (
https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/psycinfo/advanced?accountid=39473) and try different
combinations of the terms you came up with for your concepts in these search boxes.
Use the thesaurus and narrow your
results.
You will need to use the thesaurus and limiters to narrow your search. Here are some videos to show you
how:
**Hint: the thesaurus is a great place to find more terms for your concepts for your search plan.**

Using the thesarus:

https://gvsu.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=b221a84c-6c38-408e-af90-aba400e5fd43

Using limiters:
https://gvsu.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=6c1e709c-2423-4db2-b727-abaa01378fe9
Try different combinations
Combine the different terms you came up with for your concepts in different ways until you find articles
related to your topic that look interesting to you.

The, click on the title of an

article that is closely
related to your topic to see
more information about
that article, including the
abstract.
Search history
Once you feel like you’ve found good information on your topic, you can view your search history by
clicking on this icon.

Then you can copy and paste your search history into your assignment.
A few tips!
◦ Don’t be afraid to try a few different searches, with different terms for your concepts.
◦ Try different terms in the thesaurus or just type them in as keywords to see how that changes your results.
◦ Picking a topic you’re generally curious about is more enjoyable, so try to think of something you want
to know more about.
◦ Email me anytime if you have questions!

Samantha Minnis
Liaison Librarian
minniss@gvsu.edu