Research Guides: Health Sciences Career Pathway Research: Related Literature

Search Strategies

There are a lot of ways to get databases to do some of the searching work for you, especially when you're searching on a broad topic like healthcare careers. Here are a few strategies to get you started:

Is there a particular date range you're interested in?
For example: the last 5 years.

Would a specific type of document be useful?
For example: interviews

Is there another keyword you could use to narrow down the search results?
For example: search within the results for articles on women

Do you need to limit your search to a particular publication type?
For example: you can see just articles from academic journals

Recommended Databases

Starting in Smart Search (the search box on the Library homepage) is a great choice for career-related searches. You can explore subject-specific databases career-focused topics like career planning & development, occupational stress, careers in allied health and much, much more.

The search strategies you've used for other research papers will work for this too!

These databases can all be searched together. Once you get into one of them, click on Gale Databases in the top right-hand corner to pick the databases you want to search:

Vocations & Careers (Gale OneFile) Finding the right career can be a daunting and high stakes task: finding an appropriate institution of learning, job searching, and maintaining a career are all topics covered by this collection, providing current and applicable content for all vocational milestones. Offering content from nearly 400 journals, this collection provides content from general career guides to highly specialized industry journals. [Can limit search to full-text and peer-reviewed.]
Academic OneFile (Gale) Contains peer-reviewed, full-text articles from high-quality international journals and reference sources. Extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects. Updated daily. (1980 +) Also includes full-text coverage of the New York Times back to 1995. [When searching need to check the box "to peer-reviewed publications" under the Advanced Search to view only peer-reviewed articles.]
Expanded Academic ASAP (Academic Index) From arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology, this database meets research needs across all academic disciplines. Access scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images! [Can filter search to peer-reviewed only.] *Currently available only to people located in Massachusetts
General OneFile (Gale) A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics: business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social science, sports, technology, and many general interest topics. Millions of full-text articles, many with images. [Some full-text available. Can limit search to only full-text and peer-reviewed.]
Nursing and Allied Health (Gale OneFile) All aspects of the Nursing profession -- from direct patient care to health care administration -- are covered in this collection. Including nearly 400 titles, this collection's current and authoritative content will be of use to both professionals already working in the field as well as students pursuing a nursing-focused curriculum. [Can limit search to full-text and peer-reviewed.]
Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine (Gale OneFile) Both researcher and practitioner alike will find relevant, authoritative content in this collection, which includes over 100 titles covering the fields of physical therapy and sports medicine. Covering a wide spectrum of information, researchers will have access to a diverse, but focused set of topics in the field, including proven treatment techniques, experimental research theses, and many more. [Can limit seach to full-text and peer-reviewed.]

Connect Google Scholar and the Library

Connect Google Scholar and the MCPHS Libraries to get to the full-text articles you find. Don't skip or pay for articles - check the Library first!

Set Up Google Scholar & MCPHS Libraries:

Click on Settings in the Google Scholar menu - usually in the top left or right corner.
Choose Library Links on the left, search for MCPHS.
Select MCPHS - Get Full Text (MCPHS) from the list of results.
Click the blue Save button.
That's it!

Next time you're searching, look for the Get Full Text (MCPHS) link next to each search result.

Don't see it? Click on more underneath the result.

PDF vs. Get Full Text

When you're looking at search results in a database you're going to see a few different ways to get to the full article, usually either...

Both of these will take you to the article!

Clicking on the Get Full Text (MCPHS) button will open a new window to take you directly to the full article, or if the Libraries don't have a copy you can immediately request one through Interlibrary Loan. Hint: if you get a yellow bar at the top of your screen prompting you to click it, click it!

Tutorial: Need to Find an Article?

One of the first things you probably need to do is find scholarly articles. Use this interactive tutorial to practice getting to an article through the Library using a citation:

Get from a Citation to a Full-Text Article.