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Hunter Library
Research Guides
Western Carolina University

Health and Human Sciences (HHS)

https://researchguides.wcu.edu/hhs

Searching @ WCU

The All-in-One HHS Search box searches ~40 distinct research databases at one time. See the All-in-One HHS search details tab for more info.

 

See the Where to search box below to explore individual databases in the health sciences

The All in One HHS Search box searches ~40 distinct research databases at one time, including CINAHL, MEDLINE, APA PsycInfo, SportDiscus, APA PsycTests, and ERIC. The following provides a complete listing of databases searched: 

Academic Search Premier, American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 3, American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1, American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 2, American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 4, American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 5, Art & Architecture Complete, Art Index Retrospective (H.W. Wilson), Biological & Agricultural Index Plus (H.W. Wilson), Business Source Premier, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Communication & Mass Media Complete, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EconLit with Full Text, Education Source, Entrepreneurial Studies Source, Environment Complete, ERIC, Essay and General Literature Retrospective (H.W. Wilson), Gender Studies Database, GeoRef, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, Historical Abstracts, Hospitality & Tourism Complete, Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (H.W. Wilson), Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, Literary Reference Center Plus, MasterFILE Premier, MEDLINE Complete, Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print, Military & Government Collection, MLA Directory of Periodicals, MLA International Bibliography, Newspaper Source Plus, Philosopher's Index, APA PsycArticles, APA PsycInfo, APA PsycTests, Public Administration Abstracts, Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 (H.W. Wilson), Regional Business News, Scientific Periodicals, 1771-1901, SocINDEX with Full Text, SPORTDiscus with Full Text, Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide

 

The All-in-One HHS Search box searches many health discipline databases all at once. To view the databases included in the search, click Show all. To edit the selection, click Choose Databases. Select or deselect listed databases, and click OK when done. Rerun the search. The list of searched databases (Show all) will reflect the changes you just made.

 

 

 

Search tips for the All-in-one HHS search:

  1. Search using 2 to 4 important words or concepts about your topic. Focus on a word or phrase related to the primary focus of your research and practice – the person, priority, patient, population, problem, plan, practitioner, or professional.
  2. Go through your first page or two of results and find results that seem like what you need. 
  3. Look for title or subject words in articles you like and use those to further refine the search. If you need more information on specific issues within your wider topic, add in or change search words to reflect what need to find.
  4. If you need to limit your results by peer review status or date, look to the left of your results and locate the REFINE RESULTS column.  Under the column in a section called “Limiters,” click boxes and make date changes as needed.
  5. To get at the full text of things you like, click on the "PDF Full Text" image or the purple "Find Full Text" link to access a link to the electronic full text or information on how to find a print item in the library. If those options do not appear, click the "No full text available? Try Interlibrary Loan" link, and login with WCU credentials when prompted. 
  6. To save citations to a folder, click “Add to folder." Be sure to email or download the folder before exiting the search by clicking the folder icon at the top of the page.

Can't find the full text of something you want?  Try searching for the article title in the All-in-One HHS search, and look for the "PDF Full Text"  or "Find Full Text" button or link. 

The "Find Full Text" link will send users to either a link to the electronic resource, details on the print version of the item, or a link to "No full text available? Try Interlibrary Loan."

Login to Interlibrary Loan with WCU student or employee ID.

 

In Google Scholar, click on the menu button (three lines) at the upper left. Then click on Settings. On the Settings page, click on Library links, and enter Western Carolina University in the search bar and click the search icon. Select the checkbox next to Western Carolina University when it appears in the list below the search bar. Click Save. Now links to full text at WCU will appear next to search results. If that link is not present, double check the library catalog. Articles should be linked, but WCU books are not reflected in Google Scholar results. 

Where to search

General health sciences databases, covering all health and human sciences disciplines

Databases specific to physical therapy, sports medicine, and related fields

Also see the databases on the General health tab

ERIC is an education-focused database, but also has a lot of great resources for speech therapy and related disciplines.

 

Also see the databases on the General health tab

Databases for environmental and biological information

 

Also see the databases on the General health tab

Databases specializing in psychology, sociology, and social work

 

Also see the databases on the General health tab

How to search

The All-in-One HHS search allows you to search health, psychology, science, education, and related resources like MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, SPORTDiscus, Academic Search Complete, and more, all at one time. You can use it whenever you need to find articles. You will also find some electronic books through this search.  

  1. Start by searching 2 to 4 of the words or concepts you believe are most important about this topic. What are the main concepts within your question? Consider the WHO - the person, patient, or population.
  2. Review the first page or two of results to see if this first round is on track.
  3. Look for title or subject words in results you like most and use those to further refine the search.  If you need more information on specific issues within your topic, add those in to narrow the scope.
  4. If you need to limit your results by peer review status or date, look to the left of your results and locate the REFINE RESULTS column.  Under that column in a section called “Limiters,” click the boxes and make date changes as you need.
  5. When you find things you like, look for the "PDF Full Text" or the purple "Find Full Text" link to either directly open or click through to the resource. If you don't see those, look for the "No full text available? Try Interlibrary Loan" link and login with your WCU credentials to order the materials at no cost.
  6. To save citations, click “Add to folder”  beside article titles. Click the folder icon at the top of the page to email or download selections before exiting the search. 

Need more? Try these tips:

  • AND between different terms - speech AND therapy       
  • OR between words that have similar meanings - therapy OR treatment     
  • * asterisk for multiple endings - therap* to get therapy, therapeutic, etc.
  • ( ) parentheses to group like terms together - (older OR aged) AND (therap* OR treatment)
  • " " quotation marks for words exact phrasing - "lateral epicondylitis"

Search phrases for frequently researched topics
nurses

(nurse OR nurses OR “nursing staff” OR “nursing personnel”)
paramedics

(paramedic* OR "emergency medical technician*" OR "emergency medical service*"
OR prehospital OR "pre-hospital" OR ambulance* OR "first responder*")
empirical

(study OR cohort* OR random* OR "clinical trial*" OR RCT* OR prospective*
OR retrospective* OR interview* OR survey* OR questionnaire* OR measur*
OR participant* OR subjects OR ethnograph* OR empiric* OR phenomenolog*
OR qualitativ* OR quantitativ* OR data OR dataset*) 
older adults

("older adult*" OR “old age” OR aging OR "senior citizen*" OR “65+” OR elder* OR geriat* OR
geront* OR "older people*" OR "older person*" OR "advanced age")
Appalachia

(appalach* OR "western north carolin*" OR "north carolina* mountain*" OR "west* virginia*" OR "west* south carolin*" OR "south* ohio*" OR "cumberland plateau*" OR "east* kentuck*" OR "east tennessee*" OR "north* georgia*" OR "north* alabama*" OR "tennessee valley*" OR "north* mississippi*" OR "south* indiana*" OR "south* illinois*" OR "southwest* oklahoma*" OR "north* texas*")
rural (rural* OR appalach* OR “farm* communit*” OR “isolated communit*” OR “small town*”)
United States

(appalach* OR "united states" OR midatlantic* OR carolina OR virginia OR washington OR california OR texas OR "new york" 
OR florida OR dakota OR ohio OR missouri OR mississippi OR tennessee OR georgia 
OR alaska OR hawaii OR arizona OR delaware OR illinois OR michigan OR alabama OR dakota 
OR conneticut* OR maine OR hampshire OR wisconsin OR nebraska OR colorado OR pennsylvania 
OR massachusetts OR kansas OR arkansas OR idaho OR louisiana OR nevada OR oklahoma 
OR oregon OR maryland OR wyoming OR vermont OR utah OR "rhode island" OR kentucky 
OR "new mexico" OR minnesota OR "new jersey" OR "puerto rico") 
umbrella review or review of reviews

("systematic review" OR "systematically review" OR metaanalysis OR "meta-analysis" OR "meta-synthesis"
OR metasynthesis OR "meta-summary" OR metasummary OR "meta-ethnography" OR metaethnography 
OR "meta-interpretation" OR metainterpretation OR "meta-narrative" OR metanarrative OR "meta-study"
OR metastudy OR "meta-theory" OR metatheory OR "meta-summary" OR metasummary OR "meta-methodology"
OR metamethodology OR "methodology review" OR "systematic search and review" OR "thematic synthesis"
OR "thematic analysis" OR “integrative review” OR “integrative literature” OR "integrative synthesis"
OR "umbrella review" OR "review of reviews" OR "overview of reviews" OR "mixed studies review"
OR "mixed methodology review" OR "mixed methodology synthesis" OR "mixed methodological review"
OR "mixed methodological synthesis" OR "mixed methods review" OR "mixed methods synthesis" 
OR "mapping review" OR "mapping synthesis" OR "rapid review" OR "rapid evidence review"
OR "rapid evidence synthesis" OR "rapid realist review" OR "rapid realist synthesis" OR "rapid evidence assessment"
OR "experiential review" OR "qualitative review" OR "qualitative evidence synthesis" OR "research synthesis"
OR "framework synthesis" OR "state of the art review" OR "systematized review" OR "systematised review"
OR "systematized synthesis" OR "systematised synthesis" OR “scoping review” OR "scoping study"
OR "scoping synthesis" OR “evidence synthesis” OR "synthesis of the evidence" OR "synthesis of evidence"
OR "comparative effectiveness review" OR "diagnostic test accuracy review" OR "prognostic review"
OR "review of economic evaluations" OR "theory synthesis" OR "theoretical synthesis" OR "synthesis of theories"
OR "bayesian approach" OR "critical interpretive review" OR "critical interpretive synthesis" OR "narrative review" OR "narrative synthesis" OR "critical review" OR "concept analysis" OR "conceptual analysis" OR "analysis of concept" OR "content analysis" OR "assessment review")
burnout

(burnout OR "secondary trauma*" OR "vicarious trauma*" OR "compassion fatigue" OR “burn* out”
OR “compassion fatigue” OR “professional exhaustion”)
comparing

(compar* OR versus OR differ* OR dispar* OR inequit* OR unequal* OR contrast*)
Native American (still working on adding in as many nations as possible that also do not correspond with names of large geographic areas to limit non-relevant results) ("american native*" OR "native american*" OR "american indian*" OR indigenous OR "native peoples" OR tribe OR "native hawai*" OR "first nation*" OR “alaska* native*” OR Cherokee* OR Chippewa OR Sioux OR Paiute* OR Shoshone OR Winnemucca OR Blackfoot OR Apache* OR Tonawanda OR Shawnee OR Cheyenne OR Comanche OR Lumbee OR Kickapoo OR Pawnee OR Choctaw OR Chickasaw OR Goshute OR Chickahominy OR Yakama)
leadership

(leader* OR administrator* OR administrative* OR executive* OR manager*) 
effectiveness

(efficac* OR effectiv* OR impact* OR success* OR improv*)
therapy

(therap* OR treat* OR interven*)
evaluation

(evaluat* OR effic* OR measur* OR assess* OR test OR tested OR testing OR tests OR achiev* OR satisf*)
education

(educat* OR train* OR learn* OR teach*)
simulated patient

(simulat* OR mannequin* OR manikin* OR “standardized patient*”)
satisfaction

(satisfact* OR attitude* OR complain* OR opinion* OR belie* OR feel* OR “length of stay” OR experience* OR perception* OR perceiv*)
employee

(employee* OR personnel* OR staff OR worker* OR practitioner* OR professionals OR colleague OR colleagues OR job OR workplace*)
incivility (usually workplace)

(bully* OR incivil* OR “relational aggression” OR cyberbull* OR “lateral violence” OR “horizontal violence” OR “vertical violence” OR "workplace hostil*" OR hazing OR "work* hostil*" OR "work* disrupt*" OR "disrupt* employee*" OR "disruptive behav*")
employee retention

(retention OR retain* OR turnover OR "intent* to leave" OR “le* the profession”)
workplace

(workplace* OR “work environment* OR occupation* OR worker* OR personnel* OR staff* OR employee* OR employer* OR employment)
intervention

(interven* OR training* OR program* OR solution* OR success* OR improvement* OR penalt* OR cope OR coping OR mitigat* OR prevent* OR stop OR stopping)

What is peer review?

  • Peer review is the process by which experts from a specific field or discipline evaluate the quality of a peer’s* research to assess the validity, quality, and often the originality of an author's scholarly work, research, or ideas before publication. It is the foundation for safeguarding the quality and integrity of scholarly research. Peer-reviewed publications are sometimes called scholarly, academic, or refereed publications.
    • *Peer: a person who is working in the same field, such as scholars, scientists, professors, researchers, and other professionals
  • A literature review presents a discussion of the published information within a particular subject area and is often used to set the stage for empirical research, either proposed or completed. The review may serve as a portion of a larger paper, although it also can be a paper in itself. 
  • "The literature" refers to the collection of research or scholarship in a given subject area, typically in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles, books by scholars, and academic conference presentations. 

To determine whether or not an article is scholarly and peer reviewed, consider the following factors:

  • Is it published in a peer reviewed journal? You can type the name of the journal into any search engine and learn about the submission process to see if it is peer reviewed. Additionally, if you use the library search or a database to find articles, they will usually indicate if it is from a peer reviewed journal.
  • Is the author or authors experts in the field? An article will usually indicate which university or organization an author is affiliated with. If you type the author's name and organization into a search engine, you can find out what their qualifications are.
  • Does the paper uses headings like "methods," "results," "discussion," and "conclusion?" This indicates the authors have done original, empirical research.
  • Is there a bibliography/works cited/reference list? A scholarly article will always cite numerous sources. Most of these references will be to other scholarly articles.
  • Does it have charts, maps, surveys and/or words like "experiment," "sample size," or "investigation" in the abstract? These visuals and words indicate an original research study.

Primary research articles are original, empirical research collected by the authors. Primary research articles should have a research question or hypothesis, a methods section (sometimes called "data collection" or "research design"), results, and a discussion and/or conclusion. 

Secondary sources are sometimes peer-reviewed, but not always. They are analyses of primary sources, such as literature reviews, editorials and opinions, and encyclopedia entries. Secondary sources can be published in peer-reviewed journals, even if the article is not peer-reviewed. 

When searching Hunter Library resources for articles, keep an eye out for the Academic Journal, Scholarly Journal, or Peer-Reviewed icon. That's a good bet that the article is from a peer-reviewed source. 

Academic Journal iconScholarly Journal iconpeer-reviewed icon

Evaluation Criteria

Scholarly Journal (aka Peer Reviewed / Refereed)

Technical / Trade Journal

Popular Magazine

What’s in them?

Articles that present original research studies

Reviews of books relevant to scholars in the discipline

Practical information for professionals in the field, including news, trends, and other updates

Articles (usually brief) that feature a variety of topics, including news, sports, short stories, art, fashion, etc.
 

Language is very technical, and article authors assume some scholarly background of the reader

Articles are generally brief, and the language is straightforward, but may contain professional jargon

Articles are written in simple language—no specialized knowledge is needed in order to read an article

Examples

Child Development, Nature, College English, New England Journal of Medicine

Construction Bulletin, The CPA Journal, The Police Chief, Women’s Wear Daily

Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Time, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Psychology Today

Who writes for them?

An expert or team of experts in the particular topic of study (Ph.D., researcher, or other scholar)

Professionals or experts in the field

Writers, usually professional journalists, who are not necessarily experts on the article's topic

Do authors have credentials?

Author’s credentials are usually listed with article

Author’s credentials are usually listed with article

Sometimes the authors are not named, or  details may be listed on the editorial page

Do they cite their sources?

Sources and references are always cited in scholarly articles, with footnotes or a bibliography

Sometimes sources and bibliographies are given, depending on the publication

Articles rarely, if ever, cite resources in a bibliography

What’s their purpose?

To make the information available to the rest of the scholarly world

Report on trends in the profession and give practical advice to professionals and other interested readers

To entertain, provide news or information, promote a viewpoint, or sell a product

What do they look like?

Scholarly journals generally have a basic, serious look and often contain many graphs and charts but few glossy pages or colorful pictures

Trade journals often look more like popular magazines, with glossy pictures, graphs and charts, and ads related to the trade

Glossy and attention-grabbing, with photos, perfume samples, and lots of advertisements

What is their review process?

Scholarly articles go through a peer review (referee) process where other scholars in the field evaluate the content of the article

The articles are edited for grammar, format, etc.

Articles are reviewed by the magazine’s editorial staff, including copyediting for spelling, grammar, etc.

Some trade journal articles go through some sort of peer review process

Articles are reviewed by the magazine’s editorial staff, including copyediting for spelling, grammar, etc.

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