PSY 381: Positive Psychology

Databases of APA Articles

Journal and Publication Information from the APA

APA PsycArticles is part of the EBSCOhost platform. By default, this platform will open on the Advanced Search screen. You can enter general keywords and phrases in the top search box or switch to Basic Search by clicking the "Basic Search" link below the search boxes. Either way, APA PsycArticles will return results across its full collection that include some or all of your keywords. 

Many of the EBSCOhost databases available at Norfolk State University search huge volumes of resources and using the Advanced Search to narrow your results is often advised. See the Advanced Search tab of this block for more information.

The "Advanced Search" option is the default and preferred method of using the EBSCOhost platform search.

Use the provided Advanced Search search boxes to build your search and refine it by assigning values to the "Select a field" dropdown menu at the end of each search box.

Below the search boxes, there are a variety of Search options that can be used to narrow results by language, publication date, and many more. This section is also where you will find the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" checkbox to limit your results to only scholarly resources.

APA PsycArticles and several other EBSCOhost databases also provide additional helpful facets for limiting search results such as a Methodology limiter. This tool can be used to restrict results only to those that use a specific methodology such as a Quantitative Study, Qualitative Study, or Clinical Trial.

For detailed explanations of every field in the Advanced Search feature, review the instructions in the user manual that can be accessed from the "Help" link in the upper-right corner of any page.

APA PsycArticles and other EBSCOhost databases offer several specific filtering and time-saving features.

• Dynamic filtering:
  • In the search results page, the "Refine Results" tools on the left side menu will adapt and changed based on the database being accessed and the type of materials in the results list.
  • If available, the "Refine Results" list will include the "Full Text" and "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" check boxes as well as a publication date range covering the available dates in the results list.
  • APA PsycArticles and several other EBSCOhost databases also provide additional helpful facets for limiting search results such as a Methodology limiter. This tool can be used to restrict results only to those that use a specific methodology such as a Quantitative Study, Qualitative Study, or Clinical Trial.
    
  • Some databases will introduce additional filtering facets such as the population groups used in a study or the inclusion of images. When you land on the results page, take note of all of the available filters to help you find the best items from your search.

• Easy Sign In:
  • When you access EBSCOhost platform databases through OpenAthens, you only need to click the "Sign In" link at the top of any page to enter your personalized workspace where you can save your resources to Folders and even share folders with a group.
  • If you want to save documents to your folder, make sure that you click "Sign In" first. This will make sure that your items are saved and will be accessible the next time that you access and EBSCOhost database.
  • Because your EBSCOhost account works across the full platform, your folders are available any EBSCOhost database so that your research is always available.

• Mix-and-Match:
  • The EBSCOhost platform includes many databases and you can search across any or all of them simultaneously by selecting the databases that you want to search from the full database list.
    • From the top of the search page, click the "Choose Databases" link and a pop-up will the full database list will appear. Check or un-check the boxes for databases that you want to search and click OK. Now when you search, you will be searching all of your selected databases at once. 
      • For more information about each database, click the ">" next to the database name to open a full description.
      • Note that when you mix databases, you may lose some of the filtering options that you are used to seeing in an individual search on the results page. If necessary, rerun your search in single databases as needed.

EBSCOhost offers a full user manual that can be accessed through the "Help" button in the upper right corner of any page. Additionally, anywhere that you see a "?" symbol at the end of a line, you can click that button for support on that specific topic.