Radiologic Science, research project: Databases (journal articles)
Scholarly/peer-reviewed journals
I encourage you to include, as at least one of your sources, a recent* research article from a scholarly/peer-reviewed journal. Why?
- These articles are usually quite narrowly focused on some aspect of your modality, so this adds a level of depth to your "story"
- Since this is recent research, your "story" will be up-to-date with the new questions in the field
*no more than 3 years old
Scholarly journals
Searching these databases: Keep It Simple, Scholar
I often strongly recommend you begin any of your searches simply, avoiding the urge to set a bunch of limiters, and entering multiple search terms into the search engine.
- I recommend that you first begin, simply, with your modality, either in abbreviation or spelled out (you can use OR as shown below to search both).
- Then, If you are only interested in peer-reviewed works, check that box
- and if you are only interested in articles that are published within a certain time frame, set the date limit.
- That's it. See what is available generally.
Anatomy of a scholarly journal
So, your instructor has requested that you include as a source at least one scholarly (or peer-rviewed) journal article. Careful. Not all of the articles you find within a scholarly journal are appropriate for your research papers. For example, in any one issue of a journal, you can find editorials, obituaries, and book reviews in addition to the research articles your instructors is really talking about when they ask you to include scholarly, peer-reviewed works. Here is a brief PowToon describing the anatomy of a scholarly journal:
Relevant databases with scholarly journals
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Radiologic Technology This link opens in a new windowTCC Library subscribes to this stand-alone journal. Requires that you are logged in through the TCC Portal. Problems accessing? Contact Melissa Adams, madams@tacomacc.edu.
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CINAHL with Full Text This link opens in a new window
(Ebsco) The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health with Full Text provides access to over 600 journals from the fields of nursing and allied health. -
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
A full-text database offering journal articles and book chapters from more than 2,500 peer-reviewed journals and 11,000 books, including reference works. (Tip: After searching for your topic, choose the "Refine by subscribed journals" feature on the results page to view the items you can access free of charge because you are a TCC student.) -
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition This link opens in a new window
(EBSCO) Coverage of nursing and allied health topics. Includes peer-reviewed journals (where you will find research), and trade journals (which are focused more on practical day-to-day practice issues) -
ProQuest Periodical Databases This link opens in a new window
ProQuest is a multi-disciplinary database holding scholarly journals, but also magazines and newspapers. If you would like to limit your searches to scholarly journals, I recommend checking the "peer-reviewed" limiter you will find under the search field.
PubMed Central database
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PubMed CentralFee free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar can also be a handy source for scholarly, peer-reviewed works. Note: Not every article that appears in your results list will be available to you in full text form for free. Only those results that have a link to the right of the article are available. See below.
If you find the perfect article via a Google Scholar search, but it is not available in full text, search for it in your TCC Library databases, and remember, your Library faculty are here to help you with that kind of thing!
Anatomy of a scholarly article
If you are new to scholarly peer-reviewed research articles, here is a brief introduction to how to recognize them when you find one! Remember, you are probably a great reader, but none of us reads everything well. We need to be taught how to read materials that are outside of our experiences, and we need to practice. If you would like to learn more about finding and reading peer-reviewed scholarly works, come see a Reference Librarian at the Research Desk in the Library.
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