Finding Articles
Finding Peer- Reviewed Articles for the assignment involves the following steps:
- Accessing the Databases
- Selecting a Database
- Developing a Search Strategy
- Filtering Search Results to Peer-Reviewed articles
- Saving and Citing
- Recording your Search Strategy
Details for each step are provided below.
Accessing the Databases
- Starting from the library homepage https://www.library.txst.edu/rrc.html, click Databases.
- On the Databases page click in the Subjects field and select Health Administration from the drop down menu, click Search.
Selecting a Database
- On the Health Administration Databases page, the databases considered the most useful to Health Administration are listed under Best Bets! However, there may be other useful databases listed so be sure to go through the entire list.
- As you go through the list of databases, note the following about each database:
- Types of research (e.g., articles, systematic reviews, clinical trials, videos)
- Content (e.g., business, medical)
- Dates of coverage (e.g., 1949-Present)
- To select the database, click the title of the database, on the following page click Access Database.
- If you are accessing the database off-campus, you will be prompted to enter your NetID and password.
*Google Scholar:
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Access Google Scholar on the Databases page so you will see the option FindIt@TxState with your search results. This options allows you to see if the full text of an article is available through the library.
Developing a Search Strategy
Once you have selected a database(s) you will need to come up with a search strategy to search for articles in the database. The following steps will help you create a search strategy.
- Identify keywords
- Add commands to the search string
- Find additional keywords
Identify Keywords
- Keywords are the main concepts from your topic/research question.
- Eliminate unimportant words (e.g. for, in, of, on)
- Tip: don't use U.S. or America as keywords unless the results include a lot of articles on other countries. Doing so could exclude articles that don't specifically mention the terms U.S. or America.
| Example Topics | Keywords |
| Disparities in Black Maternal Mortality in America | Disparity, Black, Maternal, Mortality, America |
| Effect of lifestyle factors on US Health | lifestyle, factors, US, health |
Add Search Commands to the Search String
Most databases recognize the following commands:
| Search Command | Result |
| Boolean Command AND | Black AND Maternal AND Mortality brings back articles that mention all three concepts. |
| Boolean Command OR | Black OR African American brings back articles that mention either concept. |
| Boolean Command NOT | NOT abortion will exclude articles that mention the concept. |
| Phrase Searching | "maternal mortality" returns articles containing the exact phrase in the order it is typed. |
| Truncation | Medicat* returns articles containing words with the root medicat such as medicate, medicating, medication |
Put it all together
The search string below will bring back articles that mention the following terms:
disparity or disparities AND Black AND maternal mortality
disparity or disparities AND African American AND maternal mortality
Find Additional Keywords
It is unlikely that you will find all of the articles you need with your first search string. You will have to try different search combinations using different keywords.
There are a few places you can search for additional keywords:
- Database Subject Headings/Thesaurus or MeSH
- Subject Terms/MeSH in an article record
Look for links to the database thesaurus (or subject headings or MeSH) then search for your concepts in the search box to see if the database uses another term for the concept. Add any relevant terms to your search string with the appropriate command.
You can also find additional terms in the subject terms found in an article record.
When you find an article that is relevant to your research, click on the title of the article and look for the subject terms listed in the article record. Add the relevant terms to your search string with the appropriate commands.
Filtering Search Results
Once you have perfected your search string and returned viable looking results, you may need to filter the results list, especially if you have more than 20 results. At the very least you will want to limit the results to Peer-Reviewed articles.
Many databases have filter/limiter tools that allow you to filter the results. Look for these tools on the search interface.
The example below shows the limiters for Peer-Reviewed and publication date in MEDLINE Complete:
Save and Cite your Sources
Many databases have tools that allow you to save articles or export them to a Citation Manager, and most databases have a citation generator. Be sure to...
- use the Permalink tool to link to the article (don't use the url because it won't work)
- use the Cite tool to get a citation for any article you use
- export articles to a citation manager (if you use one)
- check your citation to make sure it is correct
The tools below are from the database MEDLINE Complete, but most databases have tools so be sure to look for them!
Recording your Search Strategy
Suggestion: Don't record the search strategy until you have perfected it and are returning stellar results in the database.
| MEDLINE Complete via EBSCOhost | |
| Date of Search | 8/30/23 |
| Search String | AB disparit* AND TI black or african american AND MH "maternal mortality" |
| Number of Results | 15 |