FINDING SCHOLARLY, FULL-TEXT NURSING ARTICLES IN LIBRARY DATABASESForsyth Library, Fort Hays State University

How to focus your search

Most databases have a way for

you to limit your search so you only find articles of a certain type,

such as Peer-Reviewed (also called Scholarly or Refereed) or Full-text (the

complete article is

available).

This presentation will show where to find and use these limits in various nursing databases.

How to access the Nursing databases

Go to www.fhsu.edu/libraryThen click Find Articles & Databases

Click “Databases”

Databases listed Alphabetically

Click on the name of the database to

search it

Nursing Databases include:•CINAHL•Cochrane Library•ProQuest Nursing•Science Direct•PubMed Central•Sage Premier•Health Reference Center Academic

CINAHL (SIN-awl) Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature

Cinahl offers more limiting options than

most databases, which lets

you perform a very precise

search. To start with,

however, Full-Text, Peer-Reviewed

and perhaps Research Article are

sufficient. If you select too many limits, you

may not find anything.

Limits your results to only

those citations

which have a link to the complete article

Only articles that are reporting the results

of a research experiment. Note: an article can be from a peer-reviewed journal

but still not be a research article (could be an editorial, book

review, etc.)

Only articles which are from scholarly academic

journals, and have been examined by experts in that

field (peer-reviewers). These articles are of the

highest quality and contain the most trustworthy

information.

Cochrane Library

This database contains a wealth of evidence-

based data on

treatments, technologies,

and more. The

Systematic Reviews are

meta-analyses of

many studies of the same

treatment, to reach a

conclusion about its

effectiveness as well as the quality of the

research .

Use the quick search box, or click Advanced Search to

combine terms or use MeSH headings (Medical Subject

Headings--uniform terms for medical subjects)

migraine

Cochrane Library results list

“Reviews” are completed and are full-text.

“Protocols” are reviews which have just begun, so very little information is available.

ProQuest Nursing

Click About for an

explanation of

scholarly and peer-reviewed

The same limits are available under the green Advanced Search tab, where you can search for a combination of terms.

This database contains articles

from scholarly journals,

trade publication

s & magazines as well as full-text

Dissertations. If you want to

view Dissertations, do not

limit to Scholarly Journals.

Science Direct: Health & Life Sciences Collections

1. Click “Search” in the green toolbar. 2. Type in your search

terms

3. Select “Subscribed Sources” so you’ll get only

full-text articles.

4. Select your subject (optional) or just leave it at All Sciences.

All articles

in Science Direct

are scholarly

.

PubMed Central vs. PubMed

PubMed Central is a subset of PubMed. All articles in

PubMed Central are full-text,

scholarly articles.

If you don’t find what you need in it, try searching

PubMed. We may be able to get

the article from another

database, in print or from

another library.

www.pubmed.gov

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/

SAGE Premier, step 1

Sage Premier database

contains ONLY scholarly articles. It

covers a wide range of

disciplines, including

Health Sciences. It has Full-Text articles back

to 1999.

Here is how to find Full-Text

articles in Nursing.

Click on Advanced Search By Discipline

1

SAGE Premier, continued

Click “Select From a List of Disciplines”

Next, you can check the box to search all Health Sciences Journals, OR click the + sign and select Nursing or another topic.

2

3

Be sure to change the date range, to no further back than

1999. Older

citations will not

have the complete

article link. Then, put in your terms at the top

and click Search.

4

Health Reference Center Academic

This database contains

articles from “nursing &

allied health journals, plus

a wide variety of personal health

information sources”

from 1980 – present.

~Gale Cengage Learning

Basic Search

Advanced Search

Questions? Just ask!

Judy Salm785-628-4537

jasalm@fhsu.edu

MaryAlice Wade785-628-4342

mawade2@fhsu.edu

Lynn Haggard785-628-5566

lhaggard@fhsu.edu

Angela Barger785-628-4529 abarger@fhsu.edu