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Pharmacy Technician

This guide has been developed to introduce Pharmacy Technician students to Humber Libraries' resources and services, and to help with research.

Essential Search Tips

AND finds records with all of your terms/keywords and narrows your search.

OR finds records with any of the terms and broadens your search.

Truncation finds records with a term's various endings. For example, nurs* = nurse, nurses, nursing, nursed, etc.

Quotation marks search for a phrase instead of individual words. For example, "social media".

Differences Between Magazine and Journal Articles

Magazine and Journal Articles are often confused. When your instructor asks you to locate a journal article, do you know what you're looking for? The table below outlines some key differences between both sources of information.

 
  Magazine Article Journal Article
Topic

General or current interest

Detailed examination of professional interest

Author

Non-professional journalist or freelance writer

Professional, topical expert
(qualifications required)

Purpose To inform or entertain To keep scholars current with new research
Audience General public    Professional or special interest groups
Example Maclean's International Journal of Child Health and Human Development

Peer Reviewed Documents

Peer reviewed articles have undergone a process of evaluation by subject specific experts (peers) to ensure that information is accurate, high quality, and academically sound. Peer reviewed articles contain original research to be shared with researchers and other professionals.

Not all articles are peer reviewed. To find peer reviewed articles:

  • Look for a "Peer Review" or "refereed" search limiter when conducting your search (see example below)
  • Check the website of the publication your article was published in. Most journals will state whether the articles within are peer reviewed.

Navigating Common Search Obstacles

Zero Results

  • first check your spelling :). And don't forget that British (labour) and American (labor) spelling might effect your search results
  • try using a term that might be more inclusive. For example, if your search yields no results for "quadriceps tendinopathy, then try tendinopathy. You could use the OR operator to also. This example could look something like: "quadriceps tendinopathy" OR tendinopathy OR tendinitis. Alternatively, you could use truncation and try tendin* as well

Too Few Results

  • Revise your research question and check it is not too specific
  • Expand your search by using truncation and OR to add synonyms for your search terms (ie. baby OR babies OR infant* OR toddler*), (heart OR cardiac) 
  • Include different spellings (paediatric, pediatric) and both scientific and popular names (cannabis, marijuana)
  • Search using both subject headings and keywords
  • search for articles listed in the bibliographies at the end of relevant articles that you do find
  • perform an Author field search for the names of relevant authors who are listed in these bibliographies
  • click on Find Similar Results (Ebsco databases) or Find more documents like this (Proquest) from the full record page of a relevant article

Too Many Results

  • You may have to revise your research question to make it more specific, for example add a setting or population
  • if your search yields too many results (ie. diabetes), use AND to make it more specific (ie. diabetes AND therapy AND adult), or use "quotation marks" to search for phrases
  • search for your terms in the Title field (from the pull-down menu on the search box)
  • use database-specific proper Subject headings
  • use more limiters (ie. date range, publication type, special interest groupings, document type, journal title, etc.

Non-relevant Results

  • use proper subject headings. For example, instead of streaming, try "streaming media" or "streaming services"
  • find a relevant article in your list of results, and use its proper subject headings to redo your search
  • use the Subject limiter to focus on particular subjects of study

I've got three great articles, but nothing else!

  • Continue building on your search
  • Turn to subject specific databases or Google Scholar to find cited by and related articles
  • Check the reference lists of your great articles for other relevant articles
  • Check the subject headings on your great articles and search using them