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Hunter Library
Research Guides
Western Carolina University

Health and Human Sciences (HHS)

https://researchguides.wcu.edu/hhs

All-in-One HHS Article Search

 

The All-in-One HHS Search box searches health, psychology, science, education, and related resources including MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, SPORTDiscus, Academic Search Complete, and more. Use whenever you need to find articles. You will find many e-books, too.  

  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, do the following. If you get a "PDF Full Text" image, click that and full text should open. If you only get the purple "Find Full Text" link, click that. A link to get at the electronic full text or, in some cases, information on how to find the print version in the library appears. If such links do not show, click the "No full text available? Try Interlibrary Loan" link that shows after clicking "Find Full Text." If prompted to log into Interlibrary Loan, use your Catamount (student) or WCU (employee) ID and password.
  6. To save citations, click “Add to folder” beside the article titles. Click the top folder icon to email or download selections before exiting. When emailing, specify a citation format (AMA, APA, etc.) by selecting the "Citation Format" option - do not trust 100%!

If you need to write up what resources you are searching, you may want to adapt the following text. Please note that you'll find much more detailed suggested text specific to different review methodologies at https://researchguides.wcu.edu/HHS/publicationandpresentation.

Healthcare and social sciences-focused resources searched included the research databases APA PsycInfo, APA PsycTests, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Cochrane Collaboration's systematic reviews, Communication & Mass Media Complete, Education Source, Environment Complete, ERIC, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, SocINDEX, and SPORTdiscus as well as multidisciplinary resources such as Academic Search.

  • Search USA.gov for authoritative, up-to-date information on your population and/or problem of interest. Just search using one to four words about your population and/or problem.
    • For instance:
      diabetes
      North Carolina diabetes
  • Use USA.gov to search for statistics (prevalence data, etc.) on a particular population. Just search using one to four words about your population followed by the word statistics.
    • For instance:
      North Carolina diabetes statistics 
  • Find a completed Community Health Assessment for a county of interest. Search USA.gov with the name of your county of interest followed by the state name and the words health assessment.
    • For instance:
      Jackson County North Carolina health assessment

Can't get at the full text of something? 

  • Find the article in the HHS All-in-One Search box. 
  • If you already have the title of an article you want, search using a few words from that title.
  • When you find the title, there will be a "PDF Full Text" or "Find Full Text" link.
  • If you get the "PDF Full Text" link, click that and full text should open right up.  
  • If you only get the purple "Find Full Text" link, click that. A link to the electronic full text or, in some cases, information on finding the print version in the library appears. 
  • If such links do not show, click "No full text available? Try Interlibrary Loan" after clicking "Find Full Text." 
  • If prompted to log into Interlibrary Loan, use your regular Catamount (student) or WCU (employee) ID and password.

EBSCO account, share folders

What databases/resources does the All in One HHS Search box search?

The All in One HHS Search box searches approximately 40 distinct research databases at one time. Of those, the databases most relevant to the Health and Human Sciences are CINAHL, MEDLINE, APA PsycInfo, SportDiscus, APA PsycTests, and ERIC. The following provides a complete listing of databases searched as of May 2022.  

 

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

Advanced searching steps and tips

Start out with those basic steps. Often, those basic search steps are all you need, most especially if you change your search words to reflect terms you note pop up in relevant results you find.

The All-in-One HHS Article Search box 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. For instance, try focusing on a word or phrase that is most related to what is the primary focus of your research and also your practice – that is 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 most and use those to further refine the search.  If you need more information on specific issues within your wider topic, add in or change your search words to reflect what you are needing 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 that column in a section called “Limiters,” click the boxes and make date changes as you need.
  5. When you find things you like, get to the full text in the following way.  If you get the "PDF Full Text" link, click that and the full text should open right up.  If you only get the purple "Find Full Text" link, click that. A link to get at the electronic full text or, in some cases, information on how to find the print version in the library will come up.  However, if such links do not show, then click the "No full text available? Try Interlibrary Loan" link that does show after clicking "Find Full Text." If you are prompted to log into Interlibrary Loan, just use your regular Catamount (student) or WCU (employee) ID and password.
  6. To save citations, click “Add to folder”  beside titles of articles. Click the top folder icon to email or download selections before exiting.  When emailing, specify a citation format (AMA, APA, etc.) by selecting the "Citation Format" option - do not trust 100%! 

Email Ann Hallyburton at ahallyb@wcu.edu or contact the library if you have trouble.

If searching with 2 to 4 words or concepts does not get you what you need, contact Ann Hallyburton (ahallyb@wcu.edu) or try these more advanced search strategies using Boolean search logic:  Please note, Ann (ahallyb@wcu.edu) writes fancy Boolean search phrases all the time, so she will happily write one for you. Since she does this kind of stuff all the time, she's less likely to make easy or harder errors with the parentheses and the *'s and the various other search "operators." Errors like putting a ( in an incorrect spot can severely impact your results. When in doubt, please contact Ann (ahallyb@wcu.edu) and concentrate on doing those short, simple, but very focused word searches covered previously. Those are often all you need and work well in most all searching tools you might use (search engines like Google, academic databases like those contained in the All-in-One HHS Article search, USA.gov, even Amazon, Ebay etc).. 

  • and between words you want to appear - speech and therapy       
  • or between words that have similar meanings - therapy or treatment     
  • * asterisk for multiple endings - nurs* to get nurse, nursing, nurses, etc.
  • () parentheses to use and/or together - (older or aged) and therap*
  • "" quotation marks for words to appear in specific order - "lateral epicondylitis"
Boolean 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)

 

Individual HHS databases

Clinical practice tools

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