Library Class Handouts

Finding professional journal articles in psychology in the Pilgrim Library

Go to the College’s homepage, www.defiance.edu, and click on the quick link for “Pilgrim Library.”  This library home page has links to all of our online resources.  Or, you may use OhioLink’s web page:  www.ohiolink.edu and look in the section called “OhioLink databases.”

Some of the psychology-related databases available from OPAL/OhioLink:

• Electronic Journal Center (EJC)  [over 7000 full-text journals]
• PsychInfo (1967- present)  [not much full-text]
• PsychInfo Historical (1887-1966)
• Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
• Social Sciences Citation Index/ISI Web of Science
• Medline [medical aspects]
• Sociological Abstracts [sociological psychology]
• Biological Abstracts [animals]
• ERIC [educational psychology]
• Lexis Nexis Academic  [industrial psychology]
• Academic Search Complete  [general database with some journals]
  

*Can access the OhioLink databases from home, as long as you are a registered Pilgrim Library patron in good standing. 
*System will ask you to enter your name and the barcode number from your DC ID card. 
*Once it authenticates you, you will have two hours of connect time. 
*Call the Pilgrim Library if you have problems getting into the system from off campus. 

PsychInfo thesaurus options:

Search finds citations for articles that use that term as a subject heading

Focus finds citations for articles that use that term as a MAJOR subject heading (narrows)

Expand finds citations for articles using your term, plus citations for articles containing the terms related to yours (broadens)

Focus/Expand finds citations for articles for the term you used, plus related major headings (broadens)

Narrowing a search:

AND the terms together:  JUNG AND COGNITION weeds out any articles about Jung that don't have to do with cognition.

LIMIT the search by checking the appropriate boxes, such as English language only, Journal articles only, etc.

Broadening a search:

OR terms together:  RATS AND CONCUSSION = 11 "hits", but (RATS OR MICE) AND CONCUSSION = 15 hits.

Auto search for plurals: checking this makes the computer automatically search for plural forms of your search terms.  Children as well as child, for example, or alumni as well as alumnus

TRUNCATE the end of a word by using the $ sign:  trauma and memory = 2483 hits, but trauma and memor$, = 3246 hits.

WILDCARD: Use in the middle of a word:  women and memory = 2284, but wom?n and memory = 2823

Interlibrary Loans

• Found citations not available online or in DC-owned journals?
• Print off citation and bring to circulation desk
• We can request them for you from other libraries, via Interlibrary Loan
• Can take a week to 10 days to arrive (so don’t wait till last minute!)
• Usually no cost to you, unless requesting something from an obscure journal only owned by fee-charging research libraries outside Ohio
• Be sure that you do not request articles in a foreign language you don’t know how to read

Please contact a librarian if you need help.  Main desk phone: 419.783.2481.  Other contact information listed at: www.defiance.edu/pages/lib_staff.html

Contact a librarian if you need more help:
Barb Sedlock, ext. 2487
Mary Bishop, ext. 2483
Darline Clemens, ext. 2484
Sharon Rumbaugh, ext. 2490