A-Z Databases: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection: Library Guide

Learn how to perform an advanced search in databases on the EBSCOhost Research Platform, e.g. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection.

EBSCO Tutorials (2022) Advanced searching - tutorial. Available at: https://youtu.be/OsD0ZH1hx4o  (Accessed: 7 April 2022).

To find good quality journal articles related to:

• Applied psychology,
• Health/ Behaviour,
• Psychological theory,
• Research.

Download the EBSCO mobile app for easier access.

EBSCO Tutorials (2023) The EBSCO mobile app - Tutorial.  Available at: https://youtu.be/LFIOQRqodLo?si=_GcLZv7kQ1WU7DNr (Accessed: 15 December 2023).

Advanced Search

Typing a sentence into a search engine or database will not search resources effectively.

Consider the key words and/ or phrases that describe what you want to search (e.g. personality disorder).

Enter these in the search boxes provided.

You can use various search techniques to add in extra terms, combine multiple topics, narrow results down and get more useful results.  These include:

• Phrase search - including the terms in quotation marks to ensure they appear together (e.g. "generalized anxiety disorder").
• Boolean search:
  • AND (+) - narrows down the results. All connected terms must be included in the results (e.g. attachment AND child development).
  • OR (|) - broadens out the results. Either connected term can be included in the results (e.g. "eating disorders" OR anorexia OR bulimia OR disordered eating).
  • NOT (-) narrows down the results. The second term must be excluded from the results (e.g. hallucinations NOT auditory).
• Truncation symbol * can be helpful but should be used with caution.  For example, addict* will find addict, addicts, addiction and addicted.

Use the available filters, e.g. to the left of your results list, to refine your search by date range, language or content type, among others.

Accessing items without full text links

Some articles in your search will include full text links.  Others will be available by following the listed 'Check Primo OneSearch for availability' links.

For others, a free copy may be available on the internet provided under an open access arrangement. Use Google Scholar or Open Access button to check. Type in one author's surname and add the title of the article in quotation marks (to look for the words in the same order). If the article is freely available, you will see a PDF or HTML notation beside the citation.

You may also be able to get the article by requesting an Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Go to Databases A-Z and select 'Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection'.

Select the 'Access via your institution' option then enter your student, or staff, email address and password when prompted.

An alternative to keyword searching is to search by Subject - select the 'Subject' menu option above the search boxes.

1. Browse to find relevant subject terms.
2. Select an individual subject or click 'Explode' to also include related subheadings.
3. Search.

These results can then be combined with other search terms, as above.

• In the 'Select a field' dropdown, select Abstract to limit the search results to articles discussing your topic.
• To save specific articles, or your searches, for viewing in later search sessions, sign up for a personal folder.  See EBSCO's Create a personal account video for details.  
• Click the 'Choose databases' option, above the search boxes, to simultaneously run your search on Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection and another database on the EBSCOhost research platform.  
• When referencing an article, click the article's title then select the 'Permalink' option to generate an accessible URL to include in your reference list.  Alternatively, click the 'Cite' option then view the appropriate entry, e.g. 'APA'.  [The default URL is customised to a user session so generates error messages whenever used by another user.]
• Follow EBSCO Publishing on Twitter - @EBSCO
• Watch videos on EBSCO Tutorials YouTube channel.

• Email library@uws.ac.uk 
• Ask at a campus library Info Point
• Telephone 0141 848 3888