Finding Articles

There are many different types of databases. Some are specifically for Nursing, general information, interdisciplinary, etc. A database is a tool to help you find quality information in publications such as academic journals, newspapers, and magazines. In the library the world database usually refers to a subscription database. The library subscribes to a database, similarly to how you would subscribe to an individual magazine or newspaper.

To see a listing of databases recommended for topics in Nursing, go to the library homepage. Type Nursing in the search box and select Databases & More.

To see a full list of the library's databases choose Advanced Search, then A-Z Databases & More in the gold menu bar at the top of the page. At the A-Z Databases & More page you can sort by subject. 

Below are some of the recommended databases. Hover over the title for more information on each database. For help with searching in the databases, please contact Prof. Lori Caniano.

Nursing:

Complete list of Nursing databases available. 

Interdisciplinary:

General:

Limiters

Limiters allow you to select attributes to refine your search. Limiters are often on the advanced search screen and as a menu on the results page. Common limiters include: date, full-text, peer-reviewed, scholarly journals and document type. 

Boolean Searching

Boolean searching uses operators "AND", "OR", and "NOT" to maximize the relevancy and effectiveness of the search. This is a common way to search when using databases. Click on the image below to see how it works.

Truncation

Truncation is a searching technique where you replace the end of the word with a symbol. Most databases use an asterisk (*). Using this technique will help you when you aren't sure which word you are looking for or want to search multiple forms. For example, child* with the asterisk will show results for child, children, childhood; while child with no asterisk will show results for child only. 

Dissertations written by Adelphi students and those from other institutions are available in our databases. See the links below or find them on the A-Z Databases & More list. 

Some dissertations written by Adelphi students are available on Level C of the library stacks. 

How Do I Identify Research Articles?

• Confirm that it is a scholarly article.  It should be published in a scholarly journal and not a newspaper or popular magazine. The authors should be experts in the field and not journalists. The article must have a reference list. If the article does not have these elements it is not scholarly, and it cannot be a research article.

• It must be original research conducted by the authors of the research article. They ran surveys, did the experiments, collected data, made observations, conducted interviews or otherwise gathered material on their own or with a team of researchers. 

• The abstract often has clues. Look for a sentence that says something like “this study examines…” or “we did research to find…” Such statements indicate that the author probably conducted original research.

• A research article is different than a "literature review" article, which is a critical evaluation of material that has been previously published. 

Elements of a Research Article

Elements of a Research Article

Research articles are a specific type of scholarly, peer-reviewed article. They typically follow a particular format and include specific elements that show how the research was designed, how the data was gathered, how it was analyzed, and what the conclusions are. Sometimes these sections may be labeled a bit differently, but these basic elements are consistent:

Abstract: A brief, comprehensive summary of the article, written by the author(s) of the article.This abstract must be part of the article, not a summary in the database. Abstracts can appear in secondary source articles as well as primary source.

Introduction: This introduces the problem, tells you why it’s important, and outlines the background, purpose, and hypotheses the authors are trying to test. The introduction comes first, just after the abstract, and is usually not labeled.

Methods: Tells the reader describes in details how the research was conducted, and may be subdivided into subsections describing Materials, Apparatus, Subjects, Design, and Procedures.

Results: Summarizes the data and describes how it was analyzed. It should be sufficiently detailed to justify the conclusions. Sometimes called "Findings." 

Discussion: The authors explain how the data fits their original hypothesis, state their conclusions, and look at the theoretical and practical implications of their research. Sometimes called "Analysis."

References: Lists the complete bibliography of sources cited in the research article.