Using PsycINFO

Step 3: Limiting Search Results

Like many databases, PsycINFO allows you to limit your search results to particular types of sources. You can limit by publication type, age group, and more. You should add limits after you have searched for each of your concepts separately and combined them into a search that seems to have promising results.

To add limits, click on the Additional Limits button under the search box on the Advanced Search page.

Additional Limits button under the search box on the Advanced Search page

By default, limits will be applied to your most recent search. You can change this by selecting the search you want to limit at the top of the Limits page.

The list of searches at the top of the Limits page that shows the most recent search being selected

The Limits page has many different options, but you will likely only need to use a few for your research. Consider adding limits to Methodology, Publication Types, and Age Groups (if relevant). We will explore each of these below.

Note: Do not use the “full text” limits! These will exclude results that you actually can access through our U of A subscriptions.

Methodology

In the Methodology section you can choose a specific type of research, such as an Empirical Study or a Literature Review. This is a really useful feature that most other databases do not have.

The methodology limit box with Empirical Study selected as an example

Publication Types

You can also limit the results to specific types of publications. In most cases, you will want to choose Journal. I suggest this instead of “Peer-reviewed Journal” because if PsycINFO does not know the peer review status for a certain journal, you might end up excluding a relevant result.

The Publication Types limit box with Journal selected as an example

Age Groups

If your research question relates to a particular age group, consider adding this limit.

The Age Groups limit box showing multiple age ranges, for example Childhood (birth to age 12 yrs)

Limiting Your Search

Once you have finished selecting limits, click on the “Limit a Search” button at the bottom or top of the page. This will add a new line to your search history with fewer results than before, like in the example below.

A new line in the search history showing that limits have been added to Empirical Study and Journal

Video Demo: Limiting Search Results

Check Your Understanding


Next you will learn how to view and access relevant search results.

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Library Research Skills for Psychology Students Copyright © 2021 by Augustana Campus Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book