Having a difficult time finding an article? Here are a few tips:
If you find too many results, try narrowing you search by:
| Adding more terms, or using more precise terms |
Example: ("dental hygiene" AND autism) versus just ("dental hygiene") or ("dental hygiene" and "special needs patients") |
| Refining your search |
Try limiting your search by:
Note: the types of limits available typically vary in different databases |
If you are finding too few results, try broadening your search by:
| Taking away keywords, or substituting more general terms |
Example: ("dental hygiene" AND "periodontal diseases") versus ("dental hygiene" and "alveolar resorption") using the more general term "periodontal disease" will give more results than looking for a specific subtype |
| Think about possible synonyms for your original search terms, or other terms you can use that will look for a similar concept. |
Examples: ("dental hygiene" OR "oral hygiene") ("dental orthopedics" OR "orthodontics") either example will turn up more results than a search conducted using just one term or the other |
Then, of course, remember that our librarians are happy to help if you cannot find what you are looking for. Just stop by the reference desk, call, or enter your question in the "Ask ICC Library" chat box for assistance.
Consider requesting items not currently available at ICC through the following services:
Electronic versions of journal articles can be found within databases. These databases allow you to perform searches by subject terms, author, title, date of publication and other terms. Using these databases also helps ensure that you find the kind of scholarly, peer-reviewed sources that your instructors want you to use.
Here are some databases that you might find useful:
This comprehensive database covers more than 760 journals devoted to various kinds of health information and research. Most of the articles included in this database can be accessed in full text. Those that are not available in full text can often be requested through interlibrary loan (please see a librarian for more information).
This multidisciplinary database indexes over 2500 journals covering a broad range of subjects, including several devoted to health sciences and dentistry. Search hint: Once you are in the database, click on the "Search" link at the top of the page. On this search page you can limit the Subject to "Medicine and Dentistry." This will narrow your search to only articles found in journals devoted to dental health (rather than all of the sciences!).
PubMed Central is an open access database offered by the National Institutes of Health. This is a good place to look for the broadest amount of sources and for information about clinical practice and research taking place around the world, or for research on the links between certain health conditions and associated oral health conditions.
This is a more general database, but can be useful for finding journal and newspaper articles on broader topics. This can be especially useful to search for current events and trends.
Did you know you can access these electronic databases from home?
The only difference from using them in the library is that you will need to log in using your regular username and password; it's the same login ID and password you use to log on to any campus computer.