Library Guides: Pre-Health: Critical Thinking and Digital Literacy

Search Tips

EBSCOhost Databases
Search all 30 EBSCOhost databases at once or choose the databases you want to search. Create a MyEBSCO account to save your research, download eBooks or create a Project list.
The My Dashboard feature in EBSCO is like your own personal workspace where you can keep track of things you find during your research. My Dashboard has different organized sections including Projects, saved items and searches. Users must create an EBSCO Account to use this feature. Click below to learn how to set up MyDashboard in EBSCO.
My Dashboard in EBSCO
Canadian Points of View Reference Source
Point-counterpoint research database. Covers controversial and hot-topic issues from a Canadian perspective. Includes an overview essay of the topic, a point (argument) essay, a counterpoint (opposing argument) essay, and a guide to critical analysis.
ProQuest Databases
Search selected Proquest databases. Subject coverage varies according to the database.
Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
Multidisciplinary encyclopedia database. Contains over 25,000 information segments, images and biographies, searchable by subject or keyword.
Canada Commons
Multidisciplinary Canadian research database. Covers a wide range of studies including history, sociology, anthropology, business and economics. Includes rare and hard-to-find content and government documents in full-text.

When you start a research project, one of the first things you should do is develop a research strategy. A big part of your research strategy will be choosing your topic and narrowing the scope of what you want to learn. You can do this by determining:

What you know
What you don't know
The best resources to fill in your knowledge gaps

Google is a powerful search tool, which is often underutilized.

Here's a quick list of various filtering and advanced search features available to you.

Filter results by type: images, video, news, etc.
Narrow down results by country, and publication date
Use "quotation marks" to search for an exact phrase
Boolean operator OR helps when searching for synonyms
A dash right before a -term, will exclude it from results
filetype: will search for specific files (e.g. pdf)
site: will find info published on a specific site, or domain (e.g. .edu)
Google Advanced Search is a guided search interface, which will help you search all of the above from one place

The Learning Portal - Search the Web
From the Ontario Colleges' Learning Portal, a variety of sources to help you search Google more effectively to find higher quality resources.

How to Evaluate Quality

Explainer: What is peer review?
From The Conversation, a more detailed description of the peer review process.
The Learning Portal - Evaluate Your Resources
Tips to help you determine whether or not you should use a particular source for your research assignment.