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APA PsycInfo Guide

Descriptive vocabularies

APA PsycInfo uses four different vocabularies to describe the content of a source included in it: keywords, index terms, classification codes, and medical subject headings (MeSH). Understanding what these vocabularies are and how you can use them effectively, will allow you make more successful and targeted searches.

To find out more about each one of these four descriptive vocabularies, check the tabbed menu below.

What are keywords?

Keywords are uncontrolled free terms that describe a research article or other document.

Who assigns them?

In most cases, keywords are assigned by the individual author(s) of an article.

Where in the bibliographic record do they appear?

The keywords that authors assign to their work appear in the "Keywords" field of an APA PsycInfo bibliographic record.

 

Screenshot showing a sample of the Keywords field

 

When should I use them?

Keyword searching is good if you are new to a topic or if you want to find sources related to a term that is not relevant to psychology. It is, also, a very good way to start your search if you need some good results quickly or if you want to search using natural language words that first come to your mind.

What are index terms?

Index terms, otherwise referred to as subject terms, refer to the controlled vocabulary of the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms , which aims at describing the entire field of psychology.

Who assigns them?

APA staff assign index/subject terms to every new item that is added to APA PsycInfo.

Where in the bibliographic record do they appear?

The index terms appear in the "Subjects" field of an APA PsycInfo bibliographic record. Index terms that constitute the major focus of an item are distinguished from secondary ones by an asterisk (*).

 

Screenshot showing a sample of the Subjects field

 

When should I use them?

Index term searching is good if you wish to make more focused searches and if you are familiar with the particular vocabulary.

What are classification codes?

Classification codes refer to a categorization system that was designed to describe the content of APA PsycInfo database. This system includes general broad theme categories represented by about 160 terms, each one accompanied by a four-digit code. You may visit the APA PsycInfo Classification Categories and Codes page on the APA website for more information.

Who assigns them?

APA staff assign such codes to each new document that is added to APA PsycInfo. Usually, one classification code is assigned to each document, but there are cases in which more may be assigned.

Where in the bibliographic record do they appear?

The classification codes appear in the "PsycInfo Classification" field of an APA PsycInfo bibliographic record.

 

Screenshot showing a sample of the PsycInfo Classification field

 

When should I use them?

Classification codes are particularly helpful when they are paired with keywords and index terms. They are, also, useful when you want to search broadly or when a search term can mean different things in different contexts or different subfields of psychology.

What are MeSH terms?

MeSH refers to the controlled vocabulary of the US National Library of Medicine , which aims at describing uniformly and consistently literature in the field of biomedical sciences.

Who assigns them?

The National Library of Medicine staff assign such terms to every new item that is added to PubMed database.

Where in the bibliographic record do they appear?

The MeSH terms appear in the "Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)" field of an APA PsycInfo bibliographic record. This field appears in those records that are also available in PubMed. These constitute about 30% of the APA PsycInfo records.

 

Screenshot showing a sample of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) field

 

When should I use them?

MeSH searching is useful if you are searching for medicine- or neuroscience-related topics. It is also useful if you are familiar with the particular terminology.