PHE 541 Media Advocacy & Public Health: Journal Articles
Moving from a Research Question to a Search Strategy in 4 Steps
Moving from a research question to an effective search strategy involves breaking down the question into its Core Concepts, brainstorming Keywords, and then constructing an effective Search Strategy. You can do this in 4 steps.
1. Articulate your research question
Is union representation good for public employees in Oregon?
2. Break down your research question into its core concepts.
- Union Representation
- Public Employees
- Oregon
3. Now list alternative ways of describing these concepts.
Your list can include broader, narrower, and related concepts.
| Union Representation: | Collective Bargaining | labor union | labor dispute | SEIU |
| Public Employees: | workers | state worker | employee | staff |
| Oregon: | Pacific Northwest | Washington | United States | Portland |
4. Create multiple search strategies by combining words from your concept brainstorm list.
- Union AND employee AND portland
- (Labor Union OR collective bargaining) AND state work* AND oregon
- Etc.
Tips
- Use truncation (an * at the root of a word to find different word forms. For example, librar* will find libraries, librarian, librarians, etc.
- Use parentheses and the OR operator to "nest" your search--different terms/phrases that represent the same concept.
- Use quotation marks for phrase searching.
- Use Boolean operators to connect search terms:
- OR -- finds results with either or both terms -- it is used to broaden your search.
- AND -- finds results with both terms -- it is used to narrow your search.
Acknowledgement: The content in this box was based off of Mandy Swygart-Hobaugh's work at Georgia State University Library.
Core Health Databases
- Health Source: Nursing/Academic editionPresents article citations and full text articles from health and medicine journals.
- PubMed (Interface for MEDLINE)
This link opens in a new window
Provides citations and abstracts for journal articles in all areas of medical practice and research from 1953 to the present.
More Health Databases
- Gale OneFile Health and MedicineIncludes selected full text journals on nursing, allied health, and medical journals as well as consumer health magazines, newsletters, pamphlets, newspaper articles, topical overviews, and reference books.
- MedicLatinaA Spanish language collection of medical research and investigative journals published by renowned Latin American medical publishers. Provides access to full text, peer-reviewed medical journals.
- Biomedical Reference CenterProvides access to research journals covering a broad range of disciplines, including medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and pre-clinical sciences.
- Native Health Database"contains bibliographic information and abstracts of health-related articles, reports, surveys, and other resource documents pertaining to the health and health care of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Nations. The database provides information for the benefit, use, and education of organizations and individuals with an interest in health-related issues, programs, and initiatives regarding North American Indigenous peoples."
Communication Databases
- Communication Source This link opens in a new windowProvides abstracts and indexing as well as full-text content from global titles pertaining to many fields of communication studies.
Selected Public Health Journals
- Public Health JournalsFind public health journals at the Library.