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Anatomy and Physiology: Find the evidence (Journals)

Journals

Journals are the primary medium for scholarly communication.

They account for a large percentage of university research output and:

  • present current research/debate
  • provide highly focused information
  • contain research findings/opinions of experts
  • contain information not found elsewhere
  • contain information about new research areas
  • may be peer reviewed

Journals contain collections of articles and are generally published on a regular basis (e.g. issues are released monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly etc.). They can be found via Library databases.

Remember to evaluate! Just as with books, there are different types of of journals. Not all journals are suitable for your assignments.

[mgsloan, 'Stylized Computer', CC Licence: CC0 1.0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/, Image Source: Open Clip Art Library http://www.openclipart.org/detail/3956/stylized-computer-by-mgsloan]

Some anatomy and physiology journals

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Search

Some key databases to search:

Before you search analyse your research question. Consider:

  1. The main concepts in your question. You can use these as search terms.
  2. Any synonyms (similar keywords) you could also include in your search.
  3. Any words you need to define.
  4. Plurals or different word endings for any search terms.

Find different word endings or spellings in databases by using:

  • Truncation - for different word endings e.g. exercis* finds exercise, exercising...
  • Wildcards - find different words spellings e.g. ag?ing finds ageing or aging

Combine your keywords, using the connectors OR / AND, when searching.

breast cancer* OR breast neoplasm* OR breast tumo?r*

AND

mass screening* OR screening program*

Quick guides:

 

  1. Don't know much about the topic area? Do some background reading.
    For example, look in your textbook(s) or a try a relevant book.
  2. Look at the terms used in any key articles found. For example, look at the abstract, subject headings or author-supplied keywords. Can you use these terms to further revise your search?
     
  3. Look at the reference list of any key articles found. These may be relevant.
     
  4. If you cannot find what you need in one database, try another one.
     
  5. Change your search. You may need to re-work it by adding another concept to focus it further, or removing a concept to broaden it. Are there any synonyms (similar keywords) you need to add?
     
  6. Searching for evidence takes time and practice. You may need to revise your search several times before you find what you need.
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Why search databases?

Tour Down Under [Source: UniSA image library]Library databases are search tools for finding articles, papers, reports, book chapters and more. Search by topic, author, or in a specific publication. Scholarly references are best found in databases.

Databases can be discipline specific (SportDiscus), or multidisciplinary (such as Scopus). Many contain full text material, or the reference and abstract only.

 

Tips for searching

  1. Physicians for Human Rights, ‘PHR-IL's Open Clinic for Migrants and Asylum Seekers’, June 1910, CC License 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en), Image source: Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/phrisrael/4688219864/)Don't know much about the topic area? Do some background reading. For example, look in your textbook(s) or a try a relevant book.
     
  2. Look at the terms used in any key articles found. For example, look at the abstract, subject headings or author-supplied keywords. Can you use these terms to further revise your search?
     
  3. Look at the reference list of any key articles found. These may be relevant.
     
  4. If you cannot find what you need in one database, try another one.
     
  5. Change your search. You may need to re-work it by adding another concept to focus it further, or removing a concept to broaden it. Are there any synonyms (similar keywords) you need to add?
     
  6. Searching for evidence takes time and practice. You may need to revise your search several times before you find what you need.

Videos and tutorials

Databases may look different but how you apply your search strategy to them is often very similar. This video shows you how to search the database Academic Search Premier (via EBSCOhost) and Scopus.

Emcare (via Ovid)  Database includes nearly 5 million records of the scholarly and peer-reviewed literature in nursing and allied health dating back to 1995. Subject coverage are Clinical Medicine, Health Professions, Nursing, Pharmacology and Public Health. 

Search Emcare tutorial:

[copyright owned by La Trobe University, public domain, CC BY, CC BY-NC]

Shows how to apply your search in Scopus. [Low quality version of video available]

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Next steps

Find Book <image, public domain>Need more evidence? Consider searching for books. Click the image to learn how.

 



 

Evaluate <Image, public domain>Once you have found the evidence you intend to use for your assignment, you should evaluate it. Click the image to learn how.