Please add any questions about the Library you have to the following Jamboard
Looking for.... |
Try... |
| Peer reviewed research papers | LibrarySearch, Google Scholar, or specific databases like PubMed |
| Clinical practice guidelines | Trip Database, professional association websites, PubMed (limited) |
| Books | LibrarySearch |
| Publications from professional associations or licensing bodies | Web search of specific websites, LibrarySearch (limited) |
| Statistics | Statista database, web search of specific websites |
The LibrarySearch tool (the search box on the Library's homepage) is the best place to start your research on the history of midwifery or discussions of midwifery in fields like sociology.
This tool searches across the Library's collection of books, journals, videos and more.
The 6S evidence pyramid above is designed to help health practitioners prioritize evidence. The higher up the pyramid your evidence falls, the more weight you should give it in your clinical decision making process. Not every topic will have evidence at all levels – use the highest level that is available.
Currently, we do not have access to Systems level evidence at Mount Royal. Definitions for each of the levels can be found on the 6S Pyramid tab of this guide.
The image above is based on levels discussed in the following article:
DiCenso, A., Bayley, L., & Haynes, R. B. (2009). Accessing pre-appraised evidence: Fine-tuning the 5S model into a 6S model. Evidence Based Nursing, 12. 99-101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ebn.12.4.99-b
Summaries or guidelines are the most synthesized form of evidence available to us.
The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools states:
Summaries provide an outline of management options for a given health issue. Summaries incorporate the highest quality and most synthesized sources of research evidence.
You will find midwifery related guidelines via the following websites:
The SOGC publishes its guidelines in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada.
PubMed is a freely available database of medical literature. It contains references from over 5000 journals from around the world.
PubMed contains all of the references listed in Medline, which libraries pay to access.
For tips on searching PubMed, check out the following tutorials
In addition to the LibrarySearch tool, you may find these particular websites and databases helpful for discussions of Indigenous health.
These guides offer additional tips for searching for resources relating to Indigenous peoples.
Google Scholar can be useful in generating ideas around search terms, but is not a complete replacement for a PubMed search when it comes to health research. It is unclear which journals are included in Google Scholar and how far back it goes.
Google Scholar is very useful in tracking down the full text of articles cited in other works. Search for the title of the article in the search box below, and if Mount Royal subscribes to the journal, a link to the full text will be provided. If full text is not available, you can request the article via Interlibrary Loan below.
While you are a student at MRU, you never need to pay to access an article. Sometimes you will come across articles in Google that will not allow you to access the full text - if that happens, here are your options:
- Copy the title of the article and paste it into LibrarySearch. If the article is covered by our subscriptions, a link will be provided to the full text.
- If we don't have the article in our collection, you can request a copy of the article for free using our Interlibrary Loan service.
If you are using Google Scholar at home, you will have to adjust the settings to see which articles are available full text through MRU library.
Choose Settings
Select Library Links. In the search box, search for Mount Royal. Be sure to hit save!
Articles that we paid for access to will be flagged in your search results
You might be interested in building a database of helpful references that you can continue to access after you graduate. Two free citation management tools that we recommend are Mendeley and Zotero. You will find a chart comparing these tools on our Undergraduate Research guide to help you identify which is the right one for you.
