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Finding Research Articles in Nutrition |
Search
Preparation
Searching
Journal Databases
Citing Sources
Finding
Print Periodicals
Community Information Program and Volunteer Opportunities
Before searching for articles on a topic, you should prepare for your search by:
- developing a clear, specific research topic or research question, and
- dividing the research topic in "concepts" (different subtopics or elements)
For example,
a specific research question might be:
What recent nutrition research studies have been done on the effect of junk
food on children?
This
research question can be divided into two or three "concepts":
1.
research studies
2. junk food
3. children
For each concept, related search terms should be used.
The
truncation symbol (*) may be used to search for multiple words with the same
root (e.g. adolescen* for adolescents OR adolescence)
Place OR between each search term for the same concept.
1.
research OR study
2. junk food* OR fast food* OR processed food* OR trans fat* OR saturated fat*
3. child* OR youth OR teen* OR adolescen*
OR school*
For more help on how to do search preparation, see Skyline Library's Planning a Search Page.
Finding articles on research studies:
· Look for articles in scholarly journals that include the following labeled sections:
o Methods: may include "Procedure", "Participants", "Measures"
o Results
o Discussion
Use the
following databases for accessing academic journal articles in nutrition:
PubMed
Central:
free
digital archive of full-text biomedical and life sciences journal literature
from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Full-text articles for some
journals are not available until one year after publication.
- Click on the Limits tab
- Scroll down to
the Limit by Date, and
select 5 years from the Published in the Last
pull-down menu.
- Scroll down to
the Limit by Article Type,
and click in the check box for Research
& Review Articles
- Click on the Add Journal button (under Limit
by Journal); and add as many
of the following journal titles as youd like to include in your search.
(Click on the Add Another Journal button before adding each additional title.
You may need to scroll down to see the Add Another Journal button.)
The first three journals listed below are the most important titles and should be included in any search; the 4th, 5th and 6th titles are also general nutrition journals and are recommended for most searches; the last four titles are more specific and should be selected only if relevant to the search topic
- American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Journal
of Nutrition
- Journal
of the American Dietetic Association
- Nutrition
Journal
- Nutrition
Reviews
- Nutrition
Research and Practice
- Journal
of Nutrition Education and Behavior
- Nutrition
and Cancer
- Nutrition
& Metabolism
- Public
Health Nutrition
- Scroll back up
to the search box and enter search terms for your research question. Put
parentheses around terms for the same concept, ORs between terms
for the same concept, and ANDs between concepts, as in
the following example:
(processed food* OR trans fat* OR saturated fat*) AND (child* OR youth OR teen* OR adolescen* OR school*)
[Note: the words AND and OR must be CAPITALIZED in this database] - Click on the GO
button or press Enter
- To keep a
record of articles you want to display again at a later time, copy the
URL, paste into an email message and send the message to yourself.
- To email summaries of articles, go to the results page and click
the check boxes at the left of the citation for each article you want to
send. The click the Send to: at the top right of the results
list. In the dialog box that opens, select the E-mail radio
button, enter your email address in the E-mail box and click the E-mail
button at the bottom of the dialog box.
Academic OneFile Database: excellent general periodical database.
Includes full-text articles for the following American nutrition research
journals:
Nutrition & Metabolism (2007 Current), Nutrition
Journal (2007 Current), Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism (1999
- Current), Family Economics and
Nutrition Review (Mar 1996 - Mar 2004), Journal of the American Dietetic Association
(1989 - Aug 2003)
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required).
· From the initial Basic Search page, click on "Advanced Search" on the navigation bar near the top of the page.
· To search only for articles that include the full text (the whole article) in the database, make sure the "documents with full text" box under "Limit the results" (below the text entry boxes) is checked
· To limit your search to only academic journals, check the "peer-reviewed publications" box under "Limit the results"
· To limit your search to research articles, click in the first search box and enter the word: research OR study
· In the second search box, type the search word(s) for one concept related to your topic. Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept. Example: junk food* OR fast food* OR processed food* OR trans fat* OR saturated fat*
· On the third line, type the search word(s) for another concept related to your topic. Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept. Example: child* OR youth OR teen* OR adolescen* OR school*
· To limit your search to any nutrition journals, enter: nutrition OR diet* in the box labeled: "by publication title" (near the bottom of the "Limit the results" section) OR to limit your search to a specific journal, e.g. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, enter the name of the journal
· Click on the SEARCH button to start the search.
· After selecting articles, you can e-mail the articles to yourself by clicking on the e-mail button in the Tools box at the top left of every article.
· Enter your e-mail address in the Mail to: box
· To include a citation in APA format with the e-mailed article, scroll down to Bibliographic citation format : and click on the button for APA format
· Click the SEND button
Databases for individual
journals:
American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition provides free access to full-text articles from 1952 to
one year back from the current date and Journal of Nutrition has free full-text
articles from 1997 to one year back from the current date. (Articles from
within the last year may be purchased.)
- To search the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Nutrition, go to the search page for either journal (by clicking on one of the above links).
- In the "Text | Abstract | Title" search box, enter the following search words: methods AND results AND discussion
- In the "Abstract | Title"
search box, enter word(s) for your topic.
Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept., e.g. chocolate OR cocoa - In the Specify
Journals to Search
area, check the boxes for both the Journal of Nutrition and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
- In "Limit Results", limit the dates to: From 5 years back (e.g. 2004) and through 1 year back (e.g. 2008).
- Click on the SEARCH button.
- To keep a
record of articles you want to display again at a later time, copy the
URL, paste into an email message and send the message to yourself.
- To email article summaries, go to the results list and click in the check box at the left of the citation for each article you want to send. Then click the Send to: button at the top right of the results list. In the dialog box that opens, select the E-mail radio button, enter your e-mail address in the E-mail box and click the E-Mail button at the bottom of the dialog box.
Nutrition Journal is an open access (free),
peer-reviewed, online journal that considers manuscripts within the field of
human nutrition.
- To search the Nutrition Journal, go to
the search page , go to the search page for either journal (by clicking
on one of the above links)
- In the "Citation + abstract"
search box, enter word(s) for your topic.
Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept., e.g. soy OR tofu - In the "Article type
pull-down menu, select Research
- In the Date pull-down menus, select from 5 years back (e.g. 2004) and to the current year (e.g. 2009).
- To keep a
record of articles you want to display again at a later time, copy the
URL, paste into an email message and send the message to yourself.
- To email article summaries, click on the check box to the left of each citation on the results list; then click on the Send to: button at the top right of the results list, click on the E-mail selection button, enter your email address and click the E-Mail button.
To cite
sources, follow the example for an article from a database provided on
the APA format on the Research &
Documentation Online website
Article from a
database
If the database entry includes a DOI (Digital
Object Identifier) for the article, use the DOI number at the end.
Click here to view the example on the Research and Documentation Online website.
If there is no DOI, include the URL for the database:
Description:
Author, A.
A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article.
Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number if
available). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Howard, K. R., Brownlie, D. &
Bernstein, M. (2007).
Childhood overweight: Parental perceptions and readiness for change. Journal
of Nutrition, 23, 73-79. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Skyline College Library carries two nutrition journals that regularly publish articles on research studies:
- Journal of Nutrition Education and
- Journal of the American Dietetic Association (full text of this journal is also available in the Academic ASAP database)
You may browse through recent issues of these journals by requesting copies from the library Check Out desk. Look in the Table of Contents for each issue and look for articles listed under the section: "Research" or "Research Articles".
Skyline Library also carries two major medical journals that sometimes publish nutrition-related research articles:
- JAMA - The Journal of the American Medical Association
Skyline Library also carries these other nutrition and nutrition-related periodicals that do not publish research studies:
- Nutrition Reviews
- Nutrition Today
- Prevention
- Health
To find out
which other local libraries carry a particular journal, click on: "Finding Periodicals" (also
available from the Skyline College
Library homepage)
Community Information Program (CIP)
The CIP
database contains information on health and human service agencies serving
Click here to go to the Community Information Program
database search page
Other Volunteer
Opportunities:
Volunteer Match
Interested volunteers can enter their ZIP code to quickly find
local volunteer opportunities posted by nonprofit organizations throughout the United States
Volunteer Center of San Francisco (VCSF)
A clearinghouse of volunteer
information for San Francisco nonprofit organizations, individuals, city
agencies, and other civic groups, VCSF also develops more specialized programs
for people with disabilities, youth, corporate volunteers, potential board
members, and more. The site has a searchable database of organizations desiring
volunteer, lists of specific volunteer opportunities, advice for nonprofits on
recruiting and working with volunteers, and other information, some of which is
also provided in Spanish.
Hands On Bay Area
Register online and then attend a New Volunteer Orientation;
over 100 Bay Area volunteer opportunities each month.
San Francisco Bay Area Volunteer
Information Center
Alphabetical list of
organizations and hints for volunteers and volunteering.
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last revised: 2-13-12 |