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Environmental Public Health / Health Inspector: Journal Articles

 Article Lookup

 

Journal locator

To check if the BCIT library has the journal where the full text of an article is, follow the steps below:

1. In the search box below, enter the title of the journal the article is published in (not the article title). Click search. screen shot of the date range of a journal available at BCIT

                

2. If BCIT has the journal, check the date range (make sure it matches the year your article was published in) and click on the appropriate link.

3. Once you are in the journal, locate a search box (it's different for every journal), copy & paste the title of the article. Click search.screen shot of the search box within a journal title to locate the article you want

 4. If the full-text of the article is not available in a BCIT database use thebutton (it appears in the result list of your search, next to the citation/abstract), or request for interlibrary loan.

Databases

Databases can be discipline specific (such as MEDLINE), or multidisciplinary (such as Academic Search Complete). Many contain full text material, some only the reference and abstract.

  • Use the databases listed on this page to begin your search for scholarly articles.
  • These resources allow you to search multiple journals at once for articles on your topic.
  • Most databases provide a limiter/filter option for peer-reviewed articles.

 Resist the temptation to limit your initial search to full text only, unless you absolutely need the article immediately. You may miss citations for appropriate articles not found in that database but could be found through one of our other databases.

Find more databases by browsing the database list by subject. Health Sciences databases.

Start your research with these recommended databases:

Research question:

In Canada, what are the strategies to deal with food insecurity?

It is a good place to start your research. 

Google Scholar Search         

 

See below how to set up Google Scholar settings to find items held by the BCIT Library .

  • Click on Settings on the Google Scholar page
  • Click on Library Links in the left hand menu. 
  • Type 'BCIT' in the search bar and Tick the checkboxes
  • Then Save

Advanced Google Searching tips.

Database training videos

Journals

Want to stay current on environmental and occupational health issues? Looking for a journal to browse for topic ideas? Try some of these:

  BCIT Environmental Public Health Journal: Open AccessCanadian content articles are written by students from the BCIT Environmental Public Health program.  2014 to present

Search for more BCIT ejournals here.

Journals contain collections of articles and are generally published on a regular basis (e.g. issues are released monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly etc.). They can be found via the Library databases link.

Journals are the primary medium for scholarly communication. They:

  • provide highly focused information
  • can be the source for the latest material on a topic
  • can sometimes be one of the few (or only) sources of scholarly information on a topic

There are different types of of journals. Not all journals are suitable for your assignments.

Types of journal articles

BCIT Library. Scholarly vs Popular journals

Peer-reviewed

Original research

Original research is a primary resource. These articles often include an introduction, methods, results and discussion sections.

Review articles

Review articles are secondary resources. They provide a comprehensive summary of research on a certain topic and often have an extensive list of references.

Not peer-reviewed

Editorials

In a scholarly publication, the editorial summarises the contributions in the publication, providing a balance between opinion and synthesis.

Book reviews

Book reviews are written by scholars and provide a summary of a newly published book.

A publication in which all articles go through a peer-review process performed by subject experts before being published. You find peer reviewed articles by searching different databases. You can find a selection of databases in this guide.

P.S. When searching for peer reviewed journals from a database, select the "peer reviewed" or "peer reviewed & academic" limiters in the database you are using to ensure that only journals that have a peer reviewed policy for at least one kind of article are returned.

What is the peer-review process more exactly? Watch the video from North Carolina State University to get a clear understanding:

"Scholarly" sources are

  • authored by academics (majority have advanced degrees) for a target audience that is mainly professional or academic researchers,
  • in-depth analysis typically focusing on one discipline or academic field, with the intent to report on or support research needs as well as advance one's knowledge on a topic or theory,
  • published by a recognized professional society/association or an academic press with academic goals and missions.

Most (but not all) scholarly publications are peer reviewed or refereed by external reviewers.

Primary and Secondary sources

Sources are: print, electronic or visual materials necessary for your research.

Sources are classified into primary, secondary and tertiary.

  • Examples of primary sources: research articles, letters/correspondence, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, official reports, patents and designs.  For example:

            Research question:
            "What were Edgar Allan Poe's views on love"

             Primary sources:

    • His original poems
    • Other works he created himself such as diaries, interviews, letters, and speeches 

To know for sure what Poe's views are, we need to get as close to the original source (himself) as possible.  His own writings, then, are primary sources.

Note: A source can be considered a primary source if it was created during a particular time, and it is documenting the "contemporary thinking" of that period. 


  • Examples of secondary sources: academic journal articles (other than empirical research articles or reports), conference proceedings, books (monographs or chapters’ books), documentaries.

If we're using the above research question about Poe, then books, biographies, and articles about Edgar Allan Poe written by anyone other than himself would be considered secondary sources because the information would be entirely second-hand.

A good way to think of it is: If your information has been processed (analyzed, interpreted, summarized) by another researcher then it's a secondary source. 


  • Examples of tertiary sources (summaries or condensed versions of materials, usually with references back to the primary and/or secondary sources): Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, atlas, almanacs, abstracts.

 

Read UBC Primary Sources for definitions and examples.

In-Class Quiz #3

Forward reference searching is when a researcher identifies articles that cite an original article or work after it had been published.  This type of search focuses on the publications created after an an article's publication. 

One way to "look forward" in the research literature to see the most current information on a topic is to:
find an article in a reference list, and locate that article: 2 votes (40%)
find an article that is FABULOUS, and find where it has been cited it (using google scholar, for instance): 2 votes (40%)
find a librarian, begin weeping madly, and beg them for help: 1 votes (20%)
Total Votes: 5

In-Class Quiz #4

Which of the following search limiters is available in CINAHL but not in Google or Google Scholar?
Peer-Reviewed: 2 votes (50%)
Patient age and gender: 1 votes (25%)
All of the above: 1 votes (25%)
none of the above: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 4
What should you do if you find an article in a database that you want to read but don’t see a link for the full text?
Purchase it from the publisher's website: 0 votes (0%)
Find a different article: 0 votes (0%)
Click "Link to Full Text": 3 votes (100%)
Redo your search: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 3

In-Class Quiz #5

Which of the following are characteristics of peer-reviewed articles?
Appear in magazines: 0 votes (0%)
Use simple vocabulary: 0 votes (0%)
Written by an expert: 2 votes (66.67%)
Always cite their sources: 1 votes (33.33%)
Total Votes: 3