Search Techniques
Phrase Searching
Using quotations around a phrase helps to search for the exact phrase.
- Example: searching for “alcohol abuse” with quotes will find records with the exact phrase “alcohol abuse”
Boolean Operators
The use of boolean operators AND, NOT and OR can help to narrow or expand your search.
- AND can be used to include all of your search terms, which will narrow your search.
- NOT can be used to include either search terms, which will narrow your search.
- OR can be used to exclude a search term, which will expand your search.
Truncation
The use of truncation can help to expand your search to include related search terms.
- For instance, to search for addiction or addicted use the search term addict*
Active Filters
Limit your search by using the following filters
- full text online
- peer reviewed
- resource type
- creation date
- subject
- journal title
- author
Search the Library Databases
- CINAHL with Full Text This link opens in a new window CINAHL is a database of citations and abstracts for journal articles and other materials on nursing, communication sciences and disorders, and allied health sciences. This authoritative resource for nursing and allied health professionals, students, educators and researchers provides indexing for 2,960 journals from the fields of nursing and allied health with more than 2,000,000 records dating back to 1981.
- Health and Wellness This link opens in a new window This comprehensive consumer health resource provides authoritative information on the full range of health-related issues, from current disease and disorder information to in-depth coverage of alternative medical practices. Full-text medical journals, magazines, reference works, multimedia; perfect for researchers at all levels with more than 1,000 medical journals, periodicals, and articles from more than 2,200 general-interest publications, medical newspapers, newsletters and news feeds and hundreds of streaming videos.
- Health Source: Nursing and Academic Edition This link opens in a new window This database provides nearly 550 scholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines. It includes nursing and allied health topics, including pediatric nursing, critical care, mental health, nursing management, and medical law. It also features the AHFS (American Hospital Formulary Service® Drug Information) Consumer Medication Information, which covers 1,300 generic drug patient education sheets with more than 4,700 brand names.
- MEDLINE with Full Text This link opens in a new window MEDLINE with Full Text provides the authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and pre-clinical sciences found on MEDLINE. The database includes full text for over 1,470 journals and citations for over 4,800 biomedical journals with subjects like Biomedicine, Pre-Clinical Sciences, Behavioral Sciences, Bioengineering, Health Policy Development, Life Sciences, Communication Disorders, Population Biology, and Reproductive Biology.
- Ovid Nursing Journals - Gateway CampusIncludes full-text coverage of these journals: American Journal of Nursing (AJN), Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, Home Healthcare Now, Home Healthcare Nurse, Men in Nursing, Nursing, Nursing Critical Care, and Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!
- R2 Digital Library Health Sciences eBooks Collection - Gateway Campus This link opens in a new window A collection of nursing and allied health ebooks from major publishers. Please note: Items can only be viewed by a single user at a time. Try again later if unable to access.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Credo Reference is a general knowledge database providing articles, images, charts, maps and other materials on thousands of topics. With 750+ searchable, full-text titles, Credo Reference places particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks. Also included are more than 1,100 short reference videos, more than 475,000 high-resolution art images, photographs, and maps across all subject areas.
- Referencia Latina This link opens in a new window A comprehensive Spanish-language database with 49,000 encyclopedia entries; 50,000 images; 2,500 health reports; a Spanish-English dictionary and full text for over 100 reference books and dozens of general interest magazines in a broad array of subject areas. Its intuitive, theme-based Spanish-language interface is designed to make content readily accessible to non-English users with limited online research experience.Una base de datos completa en español con 49.000 entradas de enciclopedia; 50.000 imágenes; 2.500 informes de salud; un diccionario español-inglés y el texto completo de más de 100 libros de referencia y docenas de revistas de interés general en una amplia gama de áreas temáticas. Su intuitiva interfaz en español basada en temas está diseñada para hacer que el contenido sea fácilmente accesible para usuarios que no hablan inglés y tienen experiencia limitada en investigación en línea.
- Salem Press Reference Shelf - Gateway Campus This link opens in a new window A collection of reference text covering topics such as literature, history, science, health & careers plus a whole lot more.
- Science Reference Center This link opens in a new window Topics covered include biology, chemistry, earth & space science, environmental science, health & medicine, history of science, life science, physics, science & society, science as inquiry, scientists, technology and wildlife. Science Reference Center provides full text for hundreds of science magazines, journals, reference books and high-quality videos. The database also contains science experiments, curriculum-aligned lesson plans, and a vast image collection.
How to Find a Peer-Reviewed Article in Databases
What are peer reviewed articles?
- Peer reviewed articles are scholarly articles that have undergone a review process by other experts in the field before being published.
Search the library databases, many of which allow you to limit the search results to peer-reviewed or scholarly articles:
- Read the database description first, to determine whether the database includes peer-reviewed articles
- Check the box which allows you to limit your results to peer-reviewed articles. For example, Academic Search Premier, on the search screen, check the box "Limit to Peer Reviewed" under "Search Options - Limit Your Results"
- Look at the screen of "Search Results", check the box to limit peer-reviewed under the tab of "Refine Results", if you didn't set up the search for peer-reviewed articles at the beginning.