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Media Sources (Newspapers, Magazines, Television, etc.) |
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Search tips:
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| Scholarly Articles |
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Search tips:
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| Search Tool | What does it cover? | When to Use It |
| Databases (e.g. Child Development & Adolescent Studies, SocINDEX, PsycINFO) |
Scholarly (peer reviewed) journal articles |
These tools were designed to help clinicians and researchers find research quickly and efficiently. They contain journal articles specific to fields of psychology, sociology, and allied health. |
| Google Scholar |
Scholarly articles Theses or PhD Presentations Conference Presentation Research Reports (and more - information is not reviewed before it is added to Google Scholar, so be careful) |
Google Scholar is more forgiving when it comes to finding the right words to use in a search because it searches the whole text of the sources, not just the article's title or abstract. This can be a blessing if you are struggling to find articles in the other tools, but it can also lead to an overwhelming amount of search results. Consider limiting by publication date.
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| LibrarySearch | Everything in the Library's collection including books, journal articles, magazines, videos, and more. | Use LibrarySearch when you are unfamiliar with your topic and are not sure where to start (e.g. for your GNED essay) or if you are looking for books and other kinds of sources on your topic. Make sure to use the limits provided to make your results more manageable (e.g. peer reviewed, creation date). |
Adapted from Celia Brinkerhoff, Doing Research, CC-BY-4.0
For example: 1. Client 2. Issue 3. Intervention
| Client | Issue | Intervention |
| adolescent | drug abuse | group therapy |
| teen | alcohol misuse | cognitive behavioral therapy |
| youth | substance use | ecotherapy |
adolescen* AND "substance abuse" AND "group therapy"
^ Note: asterisks (*) search for different endings of words, and quotations marks (" ") search for phrases of two or more words. ^
If your first search doesn't get good results, try substituting one or more of the keywords with some of the synonyms you have found from brainstorming or the ones you've seen in used in articles.
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Canadian Newspapers |
Canadian Magazines |
Broadcast Media |
These databases contain newspaper and magazine articles, and tv and radio broadcast transcripts:
Combines Canadian magazines, newspapers, newswires, reference books, biographies, and an image collection to create a collection of regional full text content.
Full-text access to hundreds of periodicals from 1983 onwards. Topics including current events, health, technology, arts, history, literature, culture, and business, with a focus on both academic and mainstream titles.
WARNING - Some news articles may only be free to read for a short time. Make sure you save a copy of the article you have selected (e.g. print to a pdf file).
In Google, you can limit your search results to news stories and to a particular date range.
1. If you don't recognize the publication the article appears in, do some additional research to ensure that it is a legitimate news source. Most major newspapers or magazines have a Wikipedia page that outlines their history.
2. Consider adding words like Calgary, Alberta, or Canada to localize your search
3. Use the minus sign to exclude words from your search. For example, Calgary health -covid will exclude articles that mention COVID. You may also want to exclude newswires from your search results - often they are just press releases from organizations without context or criticism.
Do not type sentences into the search box! Always use AND or OR between different ideas:
AND (if you want all the words to appear in your search results) e.g. nurs* AND role* AND educat*
OR (if you don't care which word shows up) e.g. patient* OR client*
Use quotation marks "" to search for a particular phrase e.g. "nurse researcher"
An asterisk (*) means I don't care how it ends e.g. nurs*
Use the Peer Reviewed limit (Warning: This limit is not perfect, so it is still your responsibility to ensure that the article you have chosen is appropriate for your assignment)
The advanced search option in these tools gives you a more user friendly way to build your search
Do not type sentences into the search box! Google is looking for a source that contains every word you type in the search box, so focus on what is most important.
Use quotation marks "" to search for a particular phrase e.g. "social worker"
You can exclude particular words from your search by using a minus sign e.g. nursing intervention obesity -children will exclude results mentioning children.