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Health sciences - Emergency Medical Care: Find Journal Articles

What is a journal article?

Journal articles are written by researchers or scholars who work in a professional or in an academic field.

An editorial board evaluates articles submitted. Subject specialists decide whether or not the article adds valuable, important or new information to the subject and whether or not the researchs has been conducted correctly, academically and in an ethical or moral way. Articles thus reviewed or examined are called ‘peer reviewed’.

Journal articles quote sources to substantiate information or statements and also to have an academic reading list of sources consulted for writing the article.

 

Questions to think about...

Good questions to think about when researching both online library databases and the open web:

  • Currency - How recent is the information? When was the content last updated?
  • Accuracy - How reliable is the information? Are the facts accurate? Are discernible biases present? Can the information be cross verified?
  • Bibliography - Is citation information readily available? Is information on the title, author, publisher, and publication date provided?

Interlibrary Loans and Intercampus Loans

If the article you are looking for is in a journal, magazine or newspaper the library does not subscribe to in print or in electronic format, consult the catalogue to find out if the journal, magazine or newspaper is kept in another UJ library. If it is, please complete a manual request  for an inter-campus loan.

If no library in the UJ  family subscribes to it, postgraduate students and staff members may request the article on Inter-library loans. This request can be done manually or electronically.

Databases versus Websites

Databases Websites
  • Published by reliable companies, like book publishers
  • May be published by anyone
  • Information comes from professionals or experts in the field
  • Information may not be verified or reliable
  • No advertising - information is paid for by the library
  • Advertising banners, pop-up ads, etc.
  • Searches can be narrowed using Keywords, Author, Date, etc.
  • Broad searches using Keywords only
  • Data is updated frequently and includes date of publication
  • Often unable to tell when information is updated or if it is current
  • FREE to anyone from inside the library and to registered UJ Library users from home
  • Valuable content, like newspaper articles, often requires a subscription or fee

How to approach an Assignment

1.  Identify the key term(s). A topic can have more than one key term, depending on the complexity of the topic.

2.  If there are terms that can be defined, e.g. dobutamine, leukoderma, zygomycosis, etc., consult reference sources such as dictionaries and  encyclopaedias to define your terms.

3.  Once you have defined your terms, try to find books on the topic by clicking on UJ Link (Library Catalogue) on the Library webpage. If the topic is too recent, you will not find any books.

4.  Finding journal articles, on databases is the next step.