LibGuides: Databases: Database Help

UserID and Password

When accessing databases, you will see a login screen like this. Use your S1234567 number and active password.

Help with searching

CINAHL Support Center via EBSCOhost
Screencasts provided from EbscoHost for both basic and advanced searching.
PubMed Tutorial
A Web-based learning program that demonstrates how to search PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's database of the world's biomedical literature.

Basics

Although different databases contain a variety of search filters and content, the general approach to searching is the same.

Use keywords or subject terms - not sentences or phrases
- Use your Boolean terms to narrow or expand your results
Be flexible! Finding the right keyword combination takes experimentation
Use the advanced search option for better control
Use the date range or publication date, when assignment has date restrictions
Use Peer-Reviewed or Scholarly Journals only if your assignment requires

Full-Text vs. Abstracts

Many of our databases contain full-text articles, but they also contain abstracts for articles available in other databases, in print, or available through Interlibrary Loan (starting September 2022). Here’s how you can tell the difference:

A scan of the article is available for PDF download.

The full text may be available in another database. Clicking this link will take you to the journal directory page, where you can see the date ranges and databases at JML. Click on the appropriate Journal-Database-Date combination to get to the article.

The article is not available in JML databases. Starting in September 2022, you will be able to click the link to begin a request to borrow the article from another library. It will be delivered to your Methodist email. Watch this video on ILL.

Peer-Reviewed articles

What are Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) publications?

Blind Peer Reviewed - (or Double Blind Peer Reviewed) - Articles appearing in a journal are sent outside of the journal's publishing or sponsoring organization for review by external reviewer(s), whereby the either author's identity or the reviewers' identity is unknown.
Editorial Board Peer Review - articles appearing in a journal are reviewed by an internal board of editors, not solely by one editor. The author's identity may be known or unknown.
Expert Peer Review - articles appearing in a journal are reviewed by experts (either internal or external to the journal) whose credentials are known and who are experts within the subject matter of the article under review. The author's identity may be known or unknown.