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In this tutorial, I'll demonstrate how you can transform your research question into a productive search of the database.
First, let's look at our research question: Do therapeutic approaches for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) have any side effects?
We'll start by breaking that question into its core concepts:
seasonal affective disorder and side effects of therapeutic approaches.
First note that I have narrowed my database selection to just PsycINFO for this search.
We recommend starting a PsycINFO search with the thesaurus.
Because every record in the PsycINFO database is tagged with terms from the thesaurus,
using it ensures that you find the most relevant research.
Note that our search for "SAD" brought us immediately to "seasonal affective disorder."
Although researchers over time may have used "SAD," "seasonal affective disorder," or even "winter depression"
Although researchers over time may have used "SAD," "seasonal affective disorder," or even "winter depression"
all of this research will be part of our results
because APA's indexers have consistently applied the preferred index term to the records.
Choosing the "focus" box will further limit to those records where "seasonal affective disorder" is the primary focus of the research.
When you click the "Continue" button, you see the search added to the Search History section.
We could view the results of that search below, but let's continue building the search
by adding the next concept, "therapeutic approaches."
Looking again at the Thesaurus, search for "therapeutic approaches."
Looking again at the Thesaurus, search for "therapeutic approaches."
That term was not found in the thesaurus, and the closest term, alphabetically,
is "therapeutic alliance."
That's not applicable to our search, so let's try again.
I'll click "Continue" and then try a new term.
Let's try a simpler term: "therapy."
"Therapy" maps to "treatment," a more applicable term for our research,
and, the term has a long list of Narrower Terms, any of which might apply to our research question.
We could click the box next to each term, but it's faster and easier to click the "Explode" box.
With that "Explode" box checked, all of these terms will be applied to our search at once.
Finally, we'll add our third search concept.
Our question was not just about therapy for seasonal affective disorder
but, more specifically, whether treatment has any side effects.
So, let's try searching for "side effects" in the thesaurus.
This brings up "side effects (drug)," which is only partially relevant for our search.
But note the Broader Term, "side effects (treatment)." That's exactly what we want.
Adding this term completes our search.
Now we're ready to run this well-crafted search.
One of the items in our search history, "therapeutic alliance," was not relevant, so I'll start by removing it.
Now, I'll select each element and click "And" to create a search that answers the original research question:
Do therapeutic approaches for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) have any side effects?
This tailored search found a number of highly relevant items.
Because we took the time to craft this tailored search,
we might want to save it to be notified when new research is added to the PsycINFO database that matches this criteria.
Just click the "save selected" button to get started.
For more search tips and strategies, please see our YouTube channel or the APA website.
Thank you.