The PsycINFO Thesaurus is a list of formal, standardized terms (or controlled vocabulary) selected by subject experts in psychology to get at the aboutness of a information resource. The terms are applied to label in a consistent manner all related items in the PsycINFO database.The purpose of a controlled vocabulary is to simplify a search. With the use of a particular term, all the items in the database to which a term has been supplied can be located. Vocabulary is highly important. Identifying the right subject terms used in the database can help to focus a search to find the articles that are the best fit for a topic. The video on the right, created by APA Training, shows an example of finding and using terms from the thesaurus.
Quick Tips:
1. Click on the "Thesaurus" link in the blue banner at the top of the PsycINFO search screen.
2. In the Browse box, type in a search term.
3. Click on the Browse button and select from the results list.
There are dozens of videos produced by the American Psychological Association that can assist in learning how to search PsycINFO like an expert. A playlist is available for all the PsycINFO tutorials on the EBSCO platform.