Difficulty: Beginner | Prerequisites: None, though familiarity with your university library homepage helps.
Psychology is an empirical discipline, and nearly every assignment past the introductory level expects you to find, read, and cite peer-reviewed journal articles. PsycINFO is the main database for that work, and learning to search it well is the difference between drowning in 1,700 results and landing on the 28 you need. This topic sits at the very start of the research-methods sequence: you will use these skills for every literature review, research paper, and thesis proposal from here on. If you have never used a library database before, start here.
PsycINFO is the primary database for finding psychology journal articles. You can search by author, keyword, title, or subject, and narrow results by year, language, methodology, or peer-review status. When PsycINFO does not give you the full text, tools such as FIND IT @FIU and PsycARTICLES bridge the gap.
PsycINFO
The premier abstract and citation database in psychology, produced by the American Psychological Association. It indexes journal articles, book chapters, and dissertations across the behavioural sciences.
In simple terms, this is the search engine for psychology research. If Google Scholar is a net, PsycINFO is a spear.
Peer-reviewed article
A published paper that has been evaluated by independent experts in the field before acceptance. Also called a "refereed" article.
Think of it as a quality filter: other researchers checked the methods and conclusions before the journal would print it.
Primary source
An article that reports original, empirical research conducted by the authors themselves, as opposed to a review, meta-analysis, or textbook summary.
In simple terms, the researchers ran the study and are telling you what they found first-hand.
Full-text database
A database that provides the complete text of articles, not just abstracts or citations. PsycARTICLES is one example.
Think of it as the difference between seeing a book's catalogue entry and holding the book open.
PsycARTICLES
A full-text database of articles published in APA journals and allied publishers. Accessible through most university library pages.
In simple terms, this is where you go when PsycINFO shows you a reference but not the paper itself.
FIND IT @FIU
A link resolver that searches across 1,200+ databases to locate the full text of an article your current database does not carry.
Think of it as a fallback button: if the article is not right in front of you, FIND IT checks everywhere else the library subscribes.
Boolean search / combining searches
Using logical operators (AND, OR) or the "Combine Searches" feature to merge separate search results. For example, combining an author search with a title-keyword search narrows your results to only articles matching both criteria.
In simple terms, it is how you go from 1,700 results to 28.
Advanced Search
A search mode in PsycINFO that lets you specify which field each term applies to (author, document title, subject, journal title) and apply filters such as date range, peer-review status, and methodology.
Think of it as adding precision: instead of throwing a word at the whole database, you tell it exactly where to look.
Go to your university library website and click Research: Start, then Subject Resources, then your course code (e.g. PSY 3213/3215: Research Methods).
Alternatively, use the A-Z Databases list from the Research: Start page and find PsycINFO directly.
A dedicated Library Research Guide for your course may also link straight to PsycINFO.
Basic Search accepts free-text queries, similar to Google. Useful for a first pass but returns broad results.
Advanced Search lets you assign each term to a specific field:
AUTHOR (AU) for a researcher's name (last name first, e.g. "Loftus Elizabeth")
Document Title for keywords that appear in the article's title
Subject for broader topic terms
Journal Title for articles within a specific publication
When a search returns hundreds or thousands of hits, apply filters:
Year range: restrict to a specific publication window.
Peer review: limit to peer-reviewed articles only. This is essential when your assignment requires primary sources.
Language, methodology, age range: further filters available in PsycINFO's sidebar.
This is one of the most useful techniques and the one most students overlook.
Every search you run is saved under "Recent Searches" at the top of the page.
Open Recent Searches, then type a combination into the Combine Searches box, e.g. "search #1 AND search #2".
Example: searching "Loftus Elizabeth" as author returns 422+ results. Searching "eyewitness" as a document-title keyword returns 1,700+ results. Combining the two returns roughly 45. Adding a peer-review filter drops it to about 28.
PsycINFO is primarily an index, not a full-text provider. When the full text is not available directly:
Click FIND IT @FIU (or your university's equivalent link resolver) to search across 1,200+ additional databases.
Try entering the journal name into your library's E-Journals search box or the Library Catalogue.
Use PsycARTICLES for full text of articles published in APA and allied journals. You can browse by journal title or search by keyword and author.
If accessing from off campus, you may need to log in through your library portal (services like Open Athens or Alma handle authentication).
Students often assume PsycINFO gives full-text access to every article. It does not. PsycINFO is primarily an index and abstract database. You need a separate step (FIND IT, PsycARTICLES, or E-Journals) to get the full paper.
Students often treat "peer-reviewed" and "primary source" as interchangeable. They overlap but are not identical. A peer-reviewed literature review is not a primary source, because it does not report original empirical research.
Students often run one broad keyword search and then scroll through hundreds of results. Combining searches is far more efficient and is the expected approach in this course.
Students sometimes forget that library databases change over time. A search that returns 1,274 articles today may return a different number next month as new articles are indexed and access agreements change.
⚠️ Assignments typically require peer-reviewed, primary-source articles. Knowing how to filter for these in PsycINFO is not optional.
⚠️ You will be asked to produce correct APA-style references with DOIs. The information needed (author names, year, title, journal, volume, issue, pages, DOI) comes directly from the PsycINFO record.
⚠️ Combining searches is a tested skill. Expect questions that ask you to locate a specific article using multiple search fields (author + title keyword, for instance).
⚠️ Know the difference between PsycINFO (index/abstracts) and PsycARTICLES (full text). This distinction appears in exam questions.
True or false: PsycINFO provides the full text of every article it lists. (False. PsycINFO is primarily an index and abstract database.)
Fill in the blank: To search for articles by a specific author in PsycINFO, select ________ from the field drop-down. (AUTHOR or AU)
True or false: A peer-reviewed literature review counts as a primary source. (False. A primary source reports original empirical research.)
Fill in the blank: The tool that searches across 1,200+ databases when PsycINFO lacks the full text is called ________. (FIND IT @FIU, or your university's link resolver)
True or false: You can combine two previous PsycINFO searches to narrow results. (True. Use the Recent Searches link and the Combine Searches box.)
Q: You need to find peer-reviewed articles by Elizabeth Loftus with "eyewitness" in the title. Describe the steps you would take in PsycINFO.
A: Run a first search with "Loftus Elizabeth" in the Author (AU) field. Run a second search with "eyewitness" in the Document Title field. Open Recent Searches, then combine the two (e.g. "search #1 AND search #2"). Finally, apply the peer-review filter to limit results to refereed articles only.
Q: What is the difference between PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES?
A: PsycINFO is an index and abstract database covering the broad behavioural-science literature. PsycARTICLES is a full-text database limited to journals published by the APA and allied publishers. You often start in PsycINFO to find what exists, then use PsycARTICLES (or FIND IT) to get the full paper.
Q: Your PsycINFO search for "social loafing" in the document title returns over 300 results. Name two ways to make this list more manageable.
A: (1) Add a second search term in another field (e.g. a specific author or a more precise title keyword) and combine searches. (2) Apply filters such as a date range or peer-review status.
Q: You find an article in PsycINFO but there is no link to the full text. What should you do?
A: Click FIND IT @FIU (or your university's link resolver) to search across additional databases. If that fails, try entering the journal name into the library's E-Journals search or Library Catalogue.
This connects directly to APA citation formatting, because every article you find in PsycINFO needs to be cited correctly in your papers. It also feeds into your literature-review writing skills: knowing how to search efficiently determines the quality and relevance of the sources you review. Later in the course, understanding primary vs secondary sources will matter when you evaluate the strength of evidence in published research.
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