Licensed Vocational Nursing

Many databases, including the recommendations in the tabs of this box, contain a variety of source types. However, many have limiters that can help you narrow your searches to specific types of sources. The Search Strategies tab of your guide, also available to the left of this box, includes other tips you will want to take advantage of when searching in databases.

• To find scholarly articles in library databases
  • Type in your search
  • Run the search
  • Once you get your results, apply the following limiters:
    • select peer-reviewed if available
      • if not available, select academic journals
    • select full-text
    • limit years of publication to the last 3-5 years
  • There may also limiters where you can narrow your results by methodology, such as a clinical trial, focus group, etc. 
• To find trade articles in library databases
  • Type in your search
  • Run your search
  • Once you get your results, apply the following limiters: 
    • select trade if available
      • if not available, select magazines
        • Trade articles may also be found by using the magazine limiter, but there may be a mixture of magazine types when applying this limiter, so it's a good idea to research the title of a magazine by doing a web search if you're not sure it's a trade publication.
    • select full-text
    • limit years of publication to the last 3-5 years
• To find magazine  / news articles in library databases
  • Type in your search
  • Run your search
  • Once you get your results, apply the following limiters: 
    • select magazines and/or news 
    • select full-text
    • limit years of publication to the last 3-5 years