ANS 381: Animal Science Seminar: Journal Articles and Reports

Search for review articles to find overviews on your topic and additional resources.

• Not every database indexes the same items or journals, even EBSCOhost or Google Scholar. For a complete search, use more that one database.
• Databases produced by the same vendor (for example, EBSCO) may be searched together.
• Use synonyms, e.g., common name and scientific name: dogs or canis lupus familiaris (or canis familiaris). 
• Use Boolean searches. Connect your search terms and phrases with and, or, and not.
• Use Thesaurus or “Suggest” or “Map” functions to search subject headings if available.
• Link from subjects or descriptors found in articles to find others.
• If available, use author indexes to search for publications by the same person (AGRICOLA, CAB, Zoological Record, etc.)
• Use limits, such as language, publication date, and publication type (review articles, scholarly journals).
• Combine searches in Search History.
• Search databases simultaneously if in same database group (Ex: PsycINFO and CAB are in EBSCO).
• Use truncation symbols if available, e.g. radio*  will find radiography, radiology

Most articles in scholarly journals are peer-reviewed, except for editorials, commentaries, letters to the editor, or news items.

Visual clues can help you determine whether an article is probably peer-reviewed or not.

See this YouTube video or the two handouts below for clues to distinguishing between a magazine article and a scholarly article.

Review articles give overviews on topics by discussing recent reseach studies and their findings. They can be good way to locate additional resources on that topic because they usually have long reference lists.

Here are some instructions for limiting your searches to review articles in different databases.

CAB: Enter your other search terms, and then type reviews in a search box.

Web of Science: Run your search, and then go to the Document Types menu in the Refine Results section to the left of the results list.. Click on Document Types.   Select Review.  You may have to click on the more options / values link to see if reviews are available.

PubMed: Run your search. Select Review or Systematic Review from the Article Types menu to the left of your results.

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