You will find that there are a variety of different databases that you can use during your Nursing studies to find information relevant to nursing and health sciences. It can be difficult to know which ones to use and for what information. The format may be similar but the different databases will find different types or articles/research papers. This table might help you decide:
| Database/Search Engine | Pros | Cons | Rating for academic assessments | |
| Library Search |
University of Dundee Library Catalogue which covers all subjects Access to books, ebooks, journal articles
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Full text access to all online resources Use red arrows to find references/cited by papers that you will get full text access to |
Can be tricky to search | ***** |
| Internurse |
Internurse covers primary and secondary care settings as well as specialist nursing practice including cardiology, neuroscience, mental health, palliative care and wound care. |
UK’s largest collection of peer-reviewed nursing content including British Journal of Nursing Articles are relatable to NHS. Once logged in, full text is available for all papers. |
Login can be difficult. Limited Searching. Small database. Avoid articles from British Journal of Healthcare Assistants. |
**** |
| CINAHL |
Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature Dedicated to providing Nursing and Allied Health Research articles |
Essential for Nursing Research Use Advanced Search for better searching Will automatically use Boolean OR & find alternative words/phrases for you |
You may not get full text access to all papers Duplications with Medline, PubMed |
***** |
| Medline |
Database searching for academic journals covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care. A core database from PubMed.
|
UoD subscription is the same supplier as CINAHL so easy to run joint searches and to switch between databases. Although more medical in nature, you may find some useful articles that you may not find in CINAHL |
You may not get full text access to all papers Duplications with CINAHL, PubMed |
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| PubMed |
provides records of articles and other documents in health and biomedicine, along with aspects of behavioural sciences, bioengineering, chemical sciences and life sciences. PubMed is provided by the US National Library of Medicine and US National Institutes of Health but its coverage is international. Medline is core content of PubMed search engine |
Free search engine, no login required Extensive collection with international content. |
You may not get full text access to all papers Duplications with CINAHL, Medline |
**** |
| Scopus |
A general social science database covering all subjects including articles in science, technology, medicine, social science, health and arts and humanities |
Excellent database for mental health. Cited by option helps to |
You may not get full text access to all papers Can be difficult to access off campus |
**** |
| Cochrane Library |
collection of databases in medicine and other healthcare specialties provided by Cochrane and other organizations. |
Cochrane Reviews is essential for all dissertation students - a database of systematic reviews and meta-analyses which summarize and interpret the results of medical research | You may not get full text access to all papers | **** |
| Web of Science (WoS) |
Interdisciplinary database including Social Science and Science fields including public health, psychology and psychiatry. Provides various journals in medicine, science, social sciences including humanities |
Can be useful for international perspectives. Cited by option useful. |
You may not get full text access to all papers Duplication with Medline, Pubmed, CINAHL |
*** |
| Google Scholar |
Searches across scholarly literature including articles |
Useful for a basic, broad search to begin with |
You may not get full text access to all papers The quality of articles can be difficult to assess |
*** |
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is a general search engine - searching the internet for webpages from your search words |
Useful for searching for Government policies, Guidelines, general information
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You may not get full text access to all papers searching via Google Use with caution - try to avoid patient information websites & charity organisations for academic purposes |
* | |
| Knowledge Network |
The national online library and knowledge service for health and social care in Scotland. Provides access to various databases including EMBASE and many other resources. |
Essential to use in NHS premises as NHS network won't allow access to UoD resources |
Registration is required to create an Open Athens Account which works differently from SSO at UoD You may not get full text access to all papers |
**** |
| Science Direct |
publishers' searchable webpage for Elsevier. Topics cover Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences, Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities |
Search for peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters |
Limiting your search to 1 publisher is not ideal. Off campus access can be tricky. You may not get full text access to all papers |
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There's nothing wrong with using Google or Google Scholar to get started. Use these search tips to get better results.
But, at University, you must learn how to use the right databases which will give you much better focussed search results.
Try some of the search databases available from the Library. You'll find better and more evidence-based information through various links on the library website.
Click on 
to expand to full screen.
1. Look at the reference list at the end of journal articles and book chapters to find other useful references. Then try and find relevant ones to use in your piece of work. If you're lucky (and looking at the articles/books online) some may have a hypertext link which might open other articles for you.
2. In many databases, you get the option cited by. This means that you can follow a particular cited reference to more current articles which have also cited that research. The higher the number of cited by sometimes indicates the quality of the research too.
3. Another option is related reading. Have a look at the related reading suggestions that sometimes appears on search pages. These might give you other papers or ideas for your assignments.
This video by Deakin Library describes the peer-review process.
You can find more information about the peer review process in the following document