This tutorial was originally created by the University of Washington's HealthLinks project. It has been abridged by librarians at Downstate Medical Center to reflect our specific resources.

PsycINFO

Search Tips

Fields

Search the TM (Tests and Measures) field to find studies that use a particular instrument. Enter the most unique word or phrase in the name of the instrument or the instrument acronym and select the TM field to be searched. In another Search box, enter the word ‘appended’ and again select the TM field to be searched. The appearance of the term ‘appended’ indicates a test or measure is appended to the article. NOTE this may not be the same test or measure you are looking for.

Example:
Rosenberg self esteem [use the pull-down menu to select "Tests and Measures"]
Appended [use the pull-down menu to select "Tests and Measures"]

For earlier studies that use a particular instrument, search the KW (Keywords), DE (descriptors), or the AB (Abstract). Enter the most unique word or phrase in the name of the instrument and select the KW or AB field to be searched to find studies that used a particular instrument in their research.

self esteem [to be searched in the KW, DE, or AB fields]
Note: the author(s) may not have specifically included the name of the instrument in any of these fields, so you may get better results by using general terms, ex. "self esteem rather" than "Rosenberg self esteem"

Then, enter the word "appended" in the search box and select the TM field to be searched to find documents that used the named instrument and have something appended to it, possibly the full text of the named instrument.

Example:
Hamilton rating scale [to be searched in the KW or AB field]
AND
Appended [to be searched in the TM field]

Obtaining Full Text

Click the PDF Full Text links if available or check the Serials List for availability.
Help

Click the Help link located at the upper right of the PsycInfo screen for additional information about searching PsycInfo.