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InfoSkills2: Searching for Resources

Your subject guides

Subject Guides can be found from the 'Guides' tab on the library homepage. Simply click on: Browse all Library Guides ⇒  By Subject.

These guides recommend key databases and other useful resources for your discipline.

Below are links to some of our Subject Guides. For all guides visit All Subject Guides or search through the library homepage.

           Dentistry        

         Education        

             Law             

         Medicine         

          Nursing          

       Psychology       

      Social Work        

 All Subject Guides   

Using Databases

A library database is a collection of quality information that can be focused on a specific subject area or deal with general (multidisciplinary) sources. Databases hold articles that are accessible through a subscription purchased by the Library. This allows students to access reliable and relevant content at no charge.

The most useful databases for each subject area and are listed in your Subject Guide. Listed below are only a few of the databases however for a full list of accessible databases visit A-Z Databases. 

  Credo - Keywords and background info 

       CINAHL - Nursing & allied health       

                   ERIC - Education                   

             Informit - Multidisciplinary             

        Medline - Medicine & health care       

                 PsycInfo - Psychology               

               Scopus - Multidisciplinary            

                      All Databases                     

Searching the Literature Video Series

The Searching the Literature Video Series has video guides for many of our top databases, as well as One Search, and can provide useful tips and advice.

Other useful guides

The library has other guides to help you with your university studies on other topics including how to find statistics, how to tell primary, secondary and tertiary sources apart, and many more. Familiarise yourself with other guides through the Guides tab on the library homepage searchbox.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a search engine that links to full-text articles to which JCU Library subscribes or items that have been made freely available.

Google Scholar Search

If you are off campus, you can either search for Google Scholar via the Database tab from the Library homepage or follow instructions below found at

Google Scholar with 'Find It @ JCU Library'

More advanced techniques

Most databases and search tools will offer even more advanced searching options. We run sessions on advanced techniques for finding journal articles every semester. You can find a copy of the slides from that session below:

Toolkit Home | Defining Your Topic | Searching for Resources | Evaluating Resources | Referencing

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Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License. Content from this Guide should be attributed to James Cook University Library. This does not apply to images, third party material (seek permission from the original owner) or any logos or insignia belonging to JCU or other bodies, which remain All Rights Reserved.

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