Scholarly Sources
- TutorialThis 6-minute tutorial will cover how to identify whether an article is "scholarly" and how to search for these types of articles.
How do we know a source we've found is a scholarly journal article? Look for these clues:
- written by scholars (with affiliations to universities or research institutions)
- written for other scholars and students (and therefore difficult to read)
- published in an academic journal with a peer-review process
- Here are some examples:
- Clinical Medicine & Research
- Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal
- American Journal of Health Promotion
- British Medical Journal (BMJ)
- Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
- Journal of Nurtrition Education & Behaviors
- Here are some examples:
- structured format (abstract, introduction, etc...)
- often presents new research
- extensive references at the end
The databases below will have the best information for health-related topics:
| Database | Disciplinary Coverage |
| PubMed @ CSUSM | Biomedical literature |
| Academic Search Premier | Multi-disciplinary literature |
| Google Scholar @ CSUSM | Multi-disciplinary literature |
| CINAHL | Allied Health/Nursing literature |
| Tips | Examples |
| Use keywords, not long search phrases |
Instead of searching for "How effective is mirror therapy in improving motor function after a stroke?" break down your search into the main keywords: mirror therapy, motor function, stroke, |
|
To get more focused results: Use quotation marks (" ") to keep phrases together Use AND to combine different keywords |
"mirror therapy" AND stroke |
|
To get broader results: Use OR to combine similar/associated keywords Truncate words that have a variety of endings with a * |
(motor function OR mobility) AND "mirror therapy" AND rehabilitat*
rehabilitat* includes rehabilitation, rehabilitate, rehabilitated, rehabilitating |
| Look for ways to limit your search in the database | You can often limit by type of article (scholarly and peer-reviewed) & year of publication |
Venn Diagram of Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT)
