What are scholarly articles - the research "literature"?
Characteristics of a Scholarly Journal Article (Peer-Reviewed)
- Author is an expert in the field. The author's credentials in the field are established, and they are likely affiliated with a scholarly institution and hold an appropriate degree in their field.
- There is a lengthy bibliography at the end of the article.
- Based on original research, or new applications of others' research.
- Written for a scholarly audience in that field of study (difficult for the general public to read)
Scholarly Article Example (APA)
Harriett, L. E., Eary, R. L., Prickett, S. A., Romero, J., Maddrell, R. G., Keenan-Devlin, L. S., & Borders, A. E. B. (2023). Adaptation of screening tools for social determinants of health in pregnancy: A pilot project. Maternal & Child Health Journal, 27(9), 1472–1480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-023-03732-2
Search strategy tips
- Brainstorm search terms, enter in Strategy Builder in the box below.
- Experiment with subject headings in CINAHL and PubMed (see search tips below).
- Wherever you search, take advantage of the databases' limit-setting features (e.g. peer-reviewed, date).
- When you have some good choices, pay attention to the features below for more searching ideas:
Subject Category References Cited by
- Healthy People 2030 SDOH ResourcesHP2030 information on Social Determinants of Health: the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.
Search Strategy Builder
Search Strategy Builder
The Search Strategy Builder is a tool designed to teach you how to create a search string using Boolean logic. While it is not a database and is not designed to input a search, you should be able to cut and paste the results into most databases’ search boxes.
Now copy and paste the above Search Strategy into a database search box.
The Search Strategy Builder was developed by the University of Arizona Libraries(CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).
CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature)
- CINAHL with Full Text This link opens in a new windowUse to find scholarly articles in nursing and allied health fields, including topics of medicine, alternative therapies, consumer health, nursing standards, and research instruments. Contains full-text articles and books, abstracts and citations, nursing dissertations, conference proceedings, standards of practice, quick lessons, video and audio and full-text of Evidence-Based Care Sheets. Includes a Subject Heading feature, which allows students to identify proper subject headings and keywords to locate relevant articles.
Where should I start? Spotlight on PubMed
PubMed is a great database to begin your searches.
- Be sure to use the Le Moyne PubMed link so that you can connect to full text articles from your search results!
- Create a free myNCBI account to save your search strategies and preferred results.
The short tutorials below are a great way to learn PubMed basics!