A crucial part of creating your search strategy is choosing which databases to search. The database(s) you choose to search will be determined by the type of evidence you require.
Book ► The Foley Library Catalog
Clinical Research ► PubMed, CINAHL
Systematic Review ► Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PubMed, CINAHL
Expert Opinion ► Pubmed, CINAHL, and any article databases that includes academic and trade journals (such as Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, SPORTdiscus, and Biomedical Reference Collection)
Clinical Practice Guideline ► DynaMed, Clinical Key for Nursing, ECRI Guidelines Trust™
Unpublished Clinical Trials ► clinicaltrials.gov, World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform
Health Statistics & Data Sets ► CDC National Center for Health Statistics, World Health Organization, HealthData.gov
For Health Sciences research, you will most likely be using PubMed or CINAHL to find academic research articles.
CINAHL specializes in Nursing and Allied Health literature.
PubMed is a much larger database, focusing broadly on biomedical, life sciences, and health research. The PubMed platform includes the MEDLINE database, as well as PubMed Central's free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. You can also access the MEDLINE database via Ebsco.
