Library Guides: Digital Health: Conducting Research in Health

Literature Searching

The Learning Portal - Finding Evidence-based Information for Health Sciences
This hub will help you navigate the process of finding evidence-based health sciences information. It will help you plan and conduct your search of literature, use appropriate databases to find and evaluate information. You will also learn about Evidence-Based Practice and the hierarchy of evidence for clinical practice.

Prepare to Search
This page will help you get ready to search by developing an appropriate and useful search topic, determining what types of materials you need, and choosing the right databases to search.
Source: The Learning Portal
Resources for Evidence-Based Practice: Forming Questions
On this page, you'll find information on the different types of questions you might ask, along with templates and tools for question formation.
Source: McMaster University Health Sciences Library, 2024

Start to Search
On this page, you will discover strategies for conducting your search and accessing your results. You will also find out how to access the full text of articles and other sources you find in your search. See tutorials under Key Database tab for guidance on using specific databases.
Source: The Learning Portal

MEDLINE (EBSCO)
Bibliographic health database. Covers life sciences, with a focus on biomedical information. Includes citations and abstracts for biomedical and health journals used by health care professionals, nurses, clinicians and researchers.
CINAHL (EBSCO)
Health research database. Indexes the top nursing and allied health literature available including nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. Includes Medical Subject headings (MeSH).

PubMed
Health database containing over 23 million citations for bio medical literature from MEDLINE, life sciences journals and eBooks.

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Excellent source for finding up to date systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare, as well as full text journals, editorials and supplements. Note: Limited to 12 concurrent users.

Cochrane Database User Guide
Contains description of search fields, advanced searching, search tools and sample paper of a Cochrane review.

Evaluate Evidence - Health Sciences Research
On this page, you will learn how to determine whether or not you should use a particular source for your research assignment. You will also learn about Evidence-Based Practice and the hierarchy of evidence for clinical practice.
Source: The Learning Portal

What is a systematic review?
Introduction to Systematic Reviews in the Health Sciences
Source: Rutgers University Libraries, 2023

Systematic Reviews to Answer Health Care Questions by Heidi D. Nelson
Publication Date: 2014

A to Z guide to conducting thorough, comprehensive systematic reviews. By breaking down topics and essential steps, this volume teaches you how to form key questions, select evidence, and perform illuminating review.

Protocol Guidance

Source: Prisma, 2024

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Excellent source for finding up to date systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare, as well as full text journals, editorials and supplements. Note: Limited to 12 concurrent users.

Cochrane Database User Guide
Contains description of search fields, advanced searching, search tools and sample paper of a Cochrane review.