In PsycINFO, you have to tell the database how you want it to combine your search terms.
Do you want it to bring back a list of results that contain ALL of the search terms you typed in? If so, you must put an AND in-between each search term.
For example, the search: superstitions AND Friday the 13th, will bring back results containing both of these.
What if you also wanted to broaden the search to not only look for superstitions, but to also look for superstitious? You could adjust your search to look for EITHER term by using OR.
For example, the search: (superstitions OR superstitious) AND Friday the 13th, will bring back results that contain either superstitions or superstitious, but they must also include anything to do with Friday the 13th.
Okay, but what's with those brackets? Why are those now part of the search?
The brackets are used in a search the same way they are used in basic math. It has to do with the logic of the order of operations. Does everyone remember the acronym BEDMAS from elementary school? It stands for:
- Brackets, then
- Exponents, then
- Division/Multiplication, then
- Addition/Subtraction.
If you were trying to solve this sample math equation: (3+5) -2, you must first solve the equation in the brackets (3+5) before solving the rest of the equation -2.
PsycINFO works the same way.
For: (superstitions OR superstitious) AND friday the 13th, a search for all the results that contain superstitions or superstitious will be run first, then that set of results will then be run against any results containing Friday the 13th, second. The final results will be a combination of the two.