Introduction to Supporting Systematic Reviews ​using APA PsycInfo on EBSCOhost​ presented at University of Galway, 3 February 2023 by Richard Crookes, EBSCO

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Introduction to Supporting Systematic Reviews
using APA PsycInfo on EBSCOhost
Friday, 3rd February 2023

2. EBSCO Customer Training Services
Richard Crookes, MA, MCLIP
Manager Training Services
- UK, Nordics & South Africa
12+ years working as a Medical
Librarian for the NHS in England
12+ years with
EBSCO Information Services

3. Objectives
Prepare your search strategy for your systematic review
assignment using default search fields on APA PsycInfo
Use the APA Thesaurus to find relevant articles
Focus search results using available filters
Save results & searches for future access
Find further support for APA PsycInfo on EBSCOhost

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From Psychology Research to Clinical Practice,
Discover Trusted Behavioral Health Resources for Every Step of the Way
Along with APA PsycInfo®, the premier abstracting and indexing database, the American Psychological Association (APA) publishes full-text and multimedia resources, all
indexed using the APA’s Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms.
APA PsycArticles®
APA PsycBooks®
APA PsycTests®
APA PsycTherapy®
APA PsycExtra®
APA PsycInfo®
Peer-reviewed, full-text articles
published by the APA and
affiliated journals
Full-text, APA-published scholarly
and professional book chapters
including works from APA Handbooks
in Psychology® series
Thousands of psychological
measures, scales and instruments
for research
Hundreds of unscripted videos showing
clinicians demonstrating therapy
techniques for training purposes
Hard-to-find sources not covered
in APA PsycInfo, such as conference
proceedings, reports, standards and
guidelines and more
The world's most comprehensive psychology index,
containing millions of bibliographic records and
dating back to the 17th century
Grey Literature
Test Instruments
Therapy Videos
Essential Index
Search these databases on EBSCOhost®,
or through EBSCO Discovery Service™
along with your catalog and e-resources.
Full-Text Books
Full-Text Articles

5. Search for “EBSCO” to locate
APA databases accessible at
the University of Galway

6. Click through to
the available
database, e.g.,
APA PsycINFO
on EBSCOhost

7. APA PsycInfo® ─ Unparalleled Index of Peer-Reviewed Literature
Updated twice a week
More than 5.3 million bibliographic records
Indexing of more than 2,200 journals, 99% of which are peer-reviewed
Coverage dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, with extensive
coverage from the 1800s to the present
Authored and edited books and book chapters
Dissertations selected from Dissertation Abstracts International
(Sections A and B)
Publications from more than 50 countries
Journals published in 29 languages

8. a
Updated twice a week
More than 218,000 full-text articles from more than 100
journals, each employing a meticulous peer-review
process
APA published scholarly journals
Coverage for most journals from Volume 1, Issue 1
Articles in PDF or HTML formats for easy navigation and
downloading
APA PsycArticles®
The Exclusive Full-Text Catalog of the Superior
Research Published by APA and Affiliated Journals

9. APA PsycArticles is the premier gateway to exchange
ideas, elevate knowledge and maximize the
communication and application of psychology.
APA journals have a significantly higher share of
citations relative to the number articles
published.
APA’s reporting standards, APA Style JARS, influence
research communications across the field of
psychology by helping authors more effectively
communicate important and relevant aspects of their
research.
By adhering to these guidelines, contributors to APA
PsycArticles enhance transparency and scientific
rigor, and advance the field of psychological science.
APA’s Authoritative,
Highly-Cited Journal
Content

10. APA PsycBooks ─ The APA’s Electronic Library of Full-text Books
APA PsycBooks ® ─ The APA’s Library of
DRM-Free, Full-Text E-books
Monthly updates
More than 67,000 book chapters and
4,500 peer-reviewed books
Recent and historical titles, with the
earliest record from 1620
The newest APA books as they are
published
The entire reference book series APA
Handbooks in Psychology®
Exclusive electronic release of
APA/Oxford University
Press Encyclopedia of Psychology

11. Monthly updates
Conference presentations, newsletters, reports, fact sheets, magazines,
monographs and more
More than 330,000 records
Full text for more than 70% of records
No coverage overlap with APA PsycInfo, creating an ideal companion
database
APA PsycExtra ® ─ Unique Full Text Materials

12. https://www.ebsco.com/products/research-
databases/psychology-behavioral-sciences-collection

13. Case Study – Formulating the Question
Q. How does the use of exercise compare to medication in
treating depression in middle-aged women?

14. PICO – Identifying Search Terms & Synonyms
Population Intervention Comparison Outcome
45 year old woman Exercise Anti-depressants Reduced depression
middle aged woman
middle aged female
exercise
physical therapy
physiotherapy
physical exertion
antidepressants
Medication
treatment of depression
management of
depression
MIDDLE AGED
FEMALE
DEPRESSION
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
THERAPEUTIC
EXERCISE
PHYSICAL
THERAPISTS
ANTIDEPRESSANT
AGENTS
DEPRESSION (see
Population)

15. Conduct a search combining keywords and APA Thesaurus
terms I - Keywords
Keyword (freetext) search

16. APA Thesaurus of Psychological
Terms – updated Autumn 2022
For more information go to
https://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/training/
thesaurus [Accessed 1/2/2023]

17. Conduct a search combining keywords and APA Thesaurus terms II –
Subject Headings
Select APA Thesaurus of
Psychological Index Terms
Enter terms to
browse the
thesaurus
Select relevant
headings from the
APA Thesaurus
and Add

18. Apply limiters and expanders I
Expanders let you broaden the scope of your search.
They do this by widening your search to include words
related to your keywords or including the actual text of
the full text results in your search.
Apply Related Words – synonyms & plurals from
thesaurus
Also search within the full text – keywords within the
full text
Apply Equivalent Subjects – maps keywords to
Subject Headings to retrieved indexed records

19. Apply limiters and expanders II
Refine results to focus your search using the available limiters – including:
Subject Major Heading i.e., APA Thesaurus term
Classification i.e., internal APA PsycInfo® categories/codes to describe the
content
Methodology e.g., Clinical Case Study, Empirical Study, Prospective Study,
Literature Review, Systematic Review, Meta Analysis, Non-clinical Case
Study, Qualitative Study
Tests & Measures e.g., published and unpublished tests and measures
mentioned in the source document and whether it is appended to the source
document
Population A standardized description of specific populations related to the
content of the document

20. Live Demo - Search

21. Save and share articles, book chapters and videos
Use Add to Folder icon in the Results list
to save individual records or select Share
to save a page of results to the Folder

22. Save and share articles, book chapters and videos II
Use available tools to Print/E-mail/save or
Export from the Folder
Click Sign In to create a MyEBSCO Folder
account or login to an existing one

23. 7. Organize search results with MyEBSCO folder
A personal MyEBSCO account, is your own personal area (folder) where
you can collect and store information across sessions.
All the items you save to your personal folder remain in your folder until
you remove them. Only you can access your MyEBSCO folder.
A MyEBSCO folder accounts allows the setting up of custom folders
which can also be shared with other users

24. Create citations in APA Style
The American Psychological Association (APA) has developed standardized methods for citing print and
electronic sources used in research.
Entries in the reference list are arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author, followed
by the initials of the author’s first name. Entries have a hanging indent (second and subsequent lines of
citations are indented).
Names: Last name, followed by first and middle initials (separated by periods).
Titles: Titles of articles, books and book chapters are in sentence case - capitalize only the first word, proper
nouns and abbreviations that are ordinarily capitalized. Names of periodicals are capitalized headline style
(capitalize all words except for prepositions and common conjunctions).
Dates: Use the order: year, month day.

25. Transitioning from Ovid to
EBSCOhost for APA PsycInfo®
https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/Transitioning-to-
EBSCOhost-Help-Sheets?language=en_US
See also the comparison Record Structure for
APA Databases (APA PsycInfo®, APA PsycArticles®
and APA PsycBooks®)
https://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/training/record-
structure-platform-field-guide.pdf

26. EBSCO Support Materials for APA Databases
APA PsycInfo User Guide
APA PsycInfo: Search Using Thesaurus Terms
Searching APA Databases
Citing Articles in APA Style (7th edition)
APA Database on EBSCOhost Tutorials
APA PsycInfo - Frequently Asked Questions

27. https://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psycinfo

28. https://connect.ebsco.com/

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Thank you!
Richard Crookes, MA, MCLIP | Manager Training Services – UK, Nordics & South Africa
https://connect.ebsco.com/
rcrookes@ebsco.com