Please remember to ask for help from a Reference Librarian if you are having trouble finding the information that you need!

The below is a reproduction of a Keyword search screen from the psychology periodical index "PsycINFO". The screen shows that several searches for psychology literature were performed (numbered 1-9 in the # column at the far left). Explanations about each of these numbered search steps follow.  

 

 

#1: In the screen above, under the heading Search History, a KEYWORD search was the first search that was performed. A set #1 was thus created (NOTE: Prior to starting a keyword search, one must uncheck the box located close above the search line that says Map Term to Subject Heading).

  • The term emotion$ has been entered and a set #1 has been created.

  • The dollar sign at the end of emotion$ ensured that the search retrieved records which contained the keyword emotion and all of its variants, such as emotions, emotional, emotionality, etc. PsycInfo added the annotation [mp=title, abstract, subject headings, table of contents, key concepts] to illustrate the many parts of a record that were searched.

#2: With this new step, the previous search set has been limited to records that deal with empirical studies only.

  • As long as the previous set is highlighted, one can click the Limits button (located below the search line) and then select Empirical Study from the list under Methodology at the next screen.

  • Alternately, one can literally type in: limit 1 to "empirical study" to get the same result as using the 'Limit' button above. Of course, if one wants to limit future sets to empirical studies one would follow the same system except substituting the number 1 for those other set numbers.
#3: The previous set, now limited to empirical studies, has been further limited with the addition of yet another keyword term memor$.
  • The 2 stands for set #2, of course.

  • The memor$ will retrieve all variants of the concept 'memory'.

  • The term and between the two concepts will ensure that both terms will appear in any order in the records that are retrieved. It is essential that sets and terms be separated wi the word and as in
    2 and memor$.

#4 - #6: All the records that pertain to three different journals indexed by PsycInfo have been created and put into their own sets.
  • To retrieve the records for a certain journal one can input the journal name into the search box and click the option.
  • Alternately one can type-in the journal name and add the extension .jn. immediately after the name (no spaces, and there are periods on either side of the 'jn'!). Thus set #4 above for the American journal of psychology has been written american journal of psychology.jn.
    • IMPORTANT: If you type-in the title of the journal please pay careful attention to whether the title contains an ampersand (&) or the literal word and. PsycINFO is very exact when it comes to either form. If you use the word and in a journal title that actually contains an ampersand, or vice-versa, you will get ZERO results!
#7 - #9: Set #3 with its empirical studies of cognition and memory has been used over and over again to find articles that appear in the three journals for which sets were created (sets #7, #8, #9).
  • Notice that each search example separated the set numbers with the term and

  • Thus the records in sets #7, #8, #9 are from three journals that can be found on the shelves at the UM-St. Louis Libraries! See the list of over 150 psychology-oriented journals below. The university subscribes to all of them!
 
In the list below, the journals in blue are of interest to general psychology topics while the journals in purple are of special interest to cognitive psychology. However, the few titles which have been color-coded are only SUGGESTED first-choices; feel free to explore other journals in the list below which you think may be relevant.
 
Remember to ask for help at the Reference Desk if you are having trouble understanding how to use PsycINFO or finding the information that you need!
 

Journal Title Call number Holdings
Acta psychologica BF 1 .A12 Location/years
Adolescence HQ 796 .A1 A3 Location/years
Advances in developmental & behavioral pediatrics. RJ 47 .5 .A37 Location/years
Advances in the study of behavior QL 750 .A38 Location/years
Aggressive behavior BF 575 .A3 A34x Location/years
American behavioral scientist H 1 .A472 Location/years
American journal of community psychology RA 790 .A1 A47 Location/years
American journal of family therapy RC 488 .5 .I54 Location/years
American journal of orthopsychiatry RA 790 .A1 A5 Location/years
American journal of psychiatry RC 321 .A52 Location/years
American journal of psychology BF 1 .A5 Location/years
American journal of psychotherapy RC 321 .A54 Location/years
American psychologist BF 1 .A55 Location/years
Annals of behavioral medicine R 726 .5 .B4263 Location/years
Applied cognitive psychology BF 309 .A6 Location/years
Applied psychological measurement BF 39 .A66 Location/years
Archives of general psychiatry RC 321 .A66 Location/years
Basic and applied social psychology HM 251 .B4413 Location/years
Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers a journal of the psychonomic society inc BF 180 .B4 Location/years
Behavior therapy RC 489 .B4 B435 Location/years
Behavioral disorders LC 4801 .B44x Location/years
British journal of clinical psychology RC 467 .B7x Location/years
British journal of developmental psychology BF 712 .B75 Location/years
British journal of psychiatry RC 321 .B7 Location/years
British journal of psychiatry. supplement RC 321 .B72 Location/years
British journal of psychology BF 1 .B7 Location/years
British journal of social psychology HM 251 .B7x Location/years
Canadian journal of behavioural science BF 1 .C27 Location/years
Child abuse & neglect HV 713 .C3815 Location/years
Child development HQ 750 .A1 C45 Location/years
Cognition BF 311 .C46x Location/years
Cognitive psychology BF 309 .C62 Location/years
Cognitive science BF 311 .C552 Location/years
Community mental health journal RA 790 .A1 C6 Location/years
Comprehensive psychiatry RC 321 .C62 Location/years
Contemporary psychology BF 1 .C53 Location/years
Counseling interviewer LB 1027 .5 .C66x Location/years
Counseling psychologist BF 637 .C6 C64 Location/years
Death studies BF 789 .D4 D395 Location/years
Developmental psychobiology QL 750 .D4 Location/years
Developmental psychology BF 699 .D46 Location/years
Developmental review: dr BF 721 .D45 Location/years
Directory of the american psychological association BF 11 .A67 Location/years
Early childhood research quarterly LB 1140 .A1 E2 Location/years
Educational & psychological measurement BF 1 .E3 Location/years
Ethology BF 1 .Z4 Location/years
Family process RC 488 .5 .A1 F3 Location/years
Family relations HQ 1 .F36 Location/years
Genetic, social, & general psychology monographs BF 701 .A1 G46 Location/years
Graduate study in psychology BF 77 .G73 Location/years
Human development BF 699 .H8 Location/years
Human relations H 1 .H8 Location/years
Journal for specialists in group work BF 637 .C6 T63 Location/years
Journal of abnormal psychology RC 321 .J7 Location/years
Journal of applied behavior analysis BF 636 .A1 J6 Location/years
Journal of applied behavioral science H 1 .J53 Location/years
Journal of applied developmental psychology BF 636 .A1 J63 Location/years
Journal of applied psychology BF 1 .J55 Location/years
Journal of applied social psychology HM 251 .A1 J5 Location/years
Journal of autism and developmental disorders RJ 499 .A1 J58 Location/years
Journal of black psychology E 185 .625 .J68 Location/years
Journal of child psychology and psychiatry RJ 499 .A1 J6 Location/years
Journal of child psychotherapy RC 321 .J57 Location/years
Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology BF 721 .J635 Location/years
Journal of clinical psychiatry RC 321 .D5 Location/years
Journal of clinical psychiatry. monograph series SEP CAT Location/years
Journal of clinical psychology RC 321 .J74 Location/years
Journal of community psychology RA 790 .A1 J6 Location/years
Journal of comparative psychology BF 1 .J573x Location/years
Journal of consulting and clinical psychology BF 1 .J575 Location/years
Journal of counseling & development HF 5381 .A1 O45 Location/years
Journal of counseling psychology BF 637 .C6 J6 Location/years
Journal of cross-cultural psychology (micro only) BF 728 .J65 Location/years
Journal of experimental child psychology BF 721 .J64 Location/years
Journal of experimental psychology animal behavior processes BF 1 .J616x Location/years
Journal of experimental psychology general BF 1 .J61x Location/years
Journal of experimental psychology human perception and performance BF 1 .J614x Location/years
Journal of experimental psychology learning, memory, and cognition BF 1 .J612x Location/years
Journal of family psychology RC 488 .A1 J68 Location/years
Journal of general psychology BF 1 .J64 Location/years
Journal of genetic psychology BF 67 .1 .J6 Location/years
Journal of humanistic psychology BF 1 .J645 Location/years
Journal of marital & family therapy HQ 1 .J47 Location/years
Journal of marriage & the family HQ 1 .J48 Location/years
Journal of memory and language BF 455 .A1 J6 Location/years
Journal of nervous and mental disease RC 321 .J88 Location/years
Journal of nonverbal behavior BF 353 .E55 Location/years
Journal of personality BF 1 .J66 Location/years
Journal of personality and social psychology HM 251 .J56 Location/years
Journal of personality assessment BF 698 .J65 Location/years
Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics RM 1 .J66 Location/years
Journal of psychiatry & law K 10 .O884 Location/years
Journal of psychoactive drugs BF 207 .A1 J6 Location/years
Journal of psychology BF 1 .J67 Location/years
Journal of research in personality BF 1 .J62 Location/years
Journal of sex research HQ 60 .A1 J6 Location/years
Journal of social behavior & personality BF 698 .A1 J7 Location/years
Journal of the american academy of child & adolescent psychiatry RJ 499 .A1 A4 Location/years
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior BF 1 .J69 Location/years
Journal of the history of the behavioral sciences BF 1 .J7 Location/years
Journal of traumatic stress RC 552 .P67 J68 Location/years
Journal of youth and adolescence HQ 796 .J635 Location/years
Learning and motivition BF 683 .A1 L4 Location/years
Measurement & evaluation in counseling & development LB 1027 .5 .M38 Location/years
Memory & cognition BF 309 .M4X Location/years
Merrill-palmer quarterly (micro only) HQ 1 .M4 Location/years
Multivariate behavioral research BF 39 .M85 Location/years
Nebraska symposium on motivation BF 683 .N4 Location/years
Neuropsychobiology RC 321 .N4X
New ideas in psychology BF 1 .N48 Location/years
Organizational behavior & human decision processes BF 636 .A1 O7 Location/years
Perception BF 311 .P348 Location/years
Perceptual and motor skills BF 311 .P36 Location/years
Personality and individual differences BF 698 .A1 P47x Location/years
Personality and social psychology bulletin BF 698 .P37x Location/years
Personality and social psychology review BF 698 .A1 P5
Professional psychology research and practice BF 1 .P73 Location/years
Psychiatric annals RC 321 .P892 Location/years
Psychoanalytic study of the child BF 721 .P8 Location/years
Psychological bulletin BF 1 .P75 Location/years
Psychological record BF 1 .P68 Location/years
Psychological reports BF 21 .P843 Location/years
Psychological review BF 1 .P7 Location/years
Psychological science BF 1 .P816 Location/years
Psychology and aging BF 724 .55 .A35 P79 Location/years
Psychology and psychotherapy RC 321 .B83 Location/years
Psychology of women quarterly HQ 1206 .P76 Location/years
Psychometrika (micro only) BF 1 .P86 Location/years
Psychosomatic medicine RC 49 .P8 Location/years
Psychotherapy RC 475 .P73 Location/years
Rehabilitation counseling bulletin HD 7255 .A2 R4 Location/years
Research in organizational behavior HD 38 .R4x Location/years
Schizophrenia bulletin RC 514 .S336 Location/years
Women & therapy RC 451 .4 .W6 W637 Location/years