Finding articles
When researching for an assessment, there are several ways you can find and access peer-reviewed journal articles. We recommend searching within key nursing and health databases to find the most relevant scholarly information.
Search Planner
Use a Search Planner to plan your concepts and keywords before entering them into a database.
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Medline CompleteMEDLINE Complete is the largest full-text companion to the MEDLINE index, containing full text for journals.
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Global HealthGlobal Health is a public health database that provides information on international health, biomedical life sciences, non-communicable diseases, public health nutrition, food safety and hygiene, and much more. This database contains records dating back to 1973.
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CINAHL CompleteCINAHL Complete is a comprehensive source of full-text for nursing & allied health journals, providing full text for more than 1,300 journals indexed in CINAHL. It contains full text for many of the most used journals in the CINAHL index, with no embargo. CINAHL Complete is a research tool for all areas of nursing & allied health literature and supports nursing and allied health professionals, students, educators and researchers.
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SocINDEX with Full TextSocINDEX with Full Text is a comprehensive sociology research database. The database features records with subject headings from a sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. SocINDEX with Full Text contains full text journals dating back to 1908. This database also includes full text books, monographs and conference papers.
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APA PsycInfoAPA PsycInfo, from the American Psychological Association (APA), contains citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, all in psychology and related disciplines, dating as far back as the 1800s. Journal coverage, which spans 1887 to present, includes international material selected from periodicals in more than 25 languages.
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Education SourceEducation Source provides indexing and abstracts for academic periodicals and includes full text for journals, books and monographs, education-related conference papers, citations for articles including book reviews and controlled and cross-referenced names of educational tests. Coverage in Education Source spans all levels of education from early childhood to higher education and also includes educational specialties such as multilingual education, health education and testing.
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Academic Search CompleteAcademic Search Complete is a multi-disciplinary database with extensive coverage of STEM research, social sciences and humanities, anthropology, engineering, law and the sciences.
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Health Policy Reference CenterHealth Policy Reference Center is a comprehensive full-text database covering all aspects of health policy and related issues.
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Social Work AbstractsSocial Work Abstracts provides indexing and abstracts dealing with all aspects of the social work field, including theory and practice, areas of service and social issues and problems.
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LGBTQ+ SourceLGBTQ+ Source contains the full text of LGBT journals, magazines and regional newspapers, as well as full-text monographs/books. The database includes comprehensive indexing and abstract coverage as well as a specialized LGBT Thesaurus containing over 6,400 terms.
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AMED Allied and Complementary MedicineAMED, produced by the British Library Health Care Information Service, is for physicians, therapists, medical researchers and clinicians looking for information regarding alternative treatments to conventional medicine.
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Environment CompleteEnvironment Complete offers coverage in applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more.
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AgeLineAgeLine focuses exclusively on the population aged 50+ and issues of aging, including social gerontology and aging-related content from the health sciences, psychology, sociology, social work, economics, and public policy.
For Health Economics information look at the NHS Economic Evaluation Database available through the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York
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EmbaseEmbase (The Excerpta Medica database) produced by Elsevier, is a biomedical and pharmaceutical database indexing international journals in the following fields: drug research, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, toxicology, clinical and experimental human medicine, health policy and management, public health, occupational health, environmental health, drug dependence and abuse, psychiatry, forensic medicine, and biomedical engineering/instrumentation.
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BioMed Central (Open Access Titles)BioMed Central (Open Access Titles) is a publishing house that provides open access to biomedical research. BioMed Central's portfolio of journals includes general titles such as Journal of Biology alongside specialist journals that focus on particular disciplines.
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Cochrane LibraryThe Cochrane Library is a collection of six databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making, and a seventh database that provides information about groups in The Cochrane Collaboration. Includes access to Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Methodology Register (CMR), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Database, and NHS Economic Evaluation Database (EED).
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PubMedPubMed is the National Library of Medicine's search service that provides access to more than 29 million citations in MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE, and other related databases, with links to participating online journals. This is a publically accessible version of Medline. PubMed is updated daily and will link to the full text of articles if they are available on the Internet
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ScienceDirectScienceDirect provides indexing and full text of journal articles in the following subjects: Chemistry, Chemical Engineerin, Clinical Medicine, Computer Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Economics, Business and Management Science, Engineering, Energy, Environmental Science, Life Sciences, Materials Science, Mathematics, Physics,Astronomy, Social Science.
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ProQuest Education Research IndexEducation Research Index combines ERIC, the leading education research database produced by the U.S. Department of Education, and the Supplemental Education Index, which was created to expand upon the current scope of ERIC. Together, they offer journal articles, reports, documents, books, all indexed with the ERIC vocabulary for a unified search experience.
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Health Collection (Informit)The Health Collection includes research articles, reports and case studies of practical support to anyone studying or working in therapeutic, diagnostic and preventative health roles. Subject areas included ageing and age care, child health and breastfeeding, indigenous health issues, mental health and rehabilitation.
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Indigenous Collection (Informit)The Indigenous Collection offers a variety of content on both historical and topical issues within Indigenous studies with material from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, North America and The Pacific.
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EmcareEmcare is a nursing and allied health database for practice, research, or education it uncovers evidence-based literature and the latest scientific advancements that support patient treatment in wide variety of healthcare settings.
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Health & Medical Collection (ProQuest)Health & Medical Collection covers all major clinical and healthcare disciplines including clinical and biomedical topics, consumer health, health administration, immunology, pharmacy and pharmacology, nursing, physical fitness and hygiene and surgery.
Tip
Some databases, like Medline Complete, exclusively search peer-reviewed journals, while others offer a filter to refine your search results to peer-reviewed articles only. Look for the 'peer reviewed' or 'academic journals' filter after conducting your search.
Licensing information: Please read what you can and can't do with each resource in the A-Z Databases under 'License Information'. Queries can be sent to the Publisher Licensing Consultant.
So, when is it okay to use Google Scholar?
Google Scholar is a good place to start exploring what literature is available on your topic. It can also be helpful for finding peer-reviewed articles, but keep in mind that Google Scholar results also include non-academic and non-peer reviewed material.
We've developed some tips to help you conduct effective Google Scholar searches in our Web resources and Google page.
See our page on Finding Peer Review Resources for more information on how to confirm if an article found via Google Scholar is peer reviewed.