Library Databases

Strategies for starting an initial literature search

1. Use free text or natural language

Think of how you do a Google search. Typically, you might write out a string of words together and hit the search button. This is known as "free text" or "natural language" searching. You can do this same form of search within most library databases.

Phrase as free text: human centered design healthcare

2. Pay attention to the syntax

Let's take it a step further. If you want to pay particular attention to the words you use, you may want to consider whether you want to write phrases (in quotes) or consider additional endings (truncation) and using specific database commands that include or exclude concepts (boolean operators).

Phrase in quotes: "human centered design"
Endings with truncation: human* will search for human, humans, humane, humanity, etc.
Boolean operators:
- "human centered design" AND healthcare will search for both concepts together.
- "human centered design" NOT healthcare will search for the first concept, but exclude results that include the second concept.
- "human centered design" OR healthcare will search for either the first or second concept

3. Use the Advance Search feature to see how these search operators are used in the database

For PubMed, the above search may look like:
"health centered design" AND heathcare - Select the link to view current results
"health centered design" OR heathcare - Select the link to view current results
"health centered design" NOT heathcare - Select the link to view current results

BONUS: Note that you can pair this phrasing with other concepts such as "race", "vulnerable population*", or "health disparities". Try searching for "health centered design" and one of these concepts using the AND boolean operator. What did you find?

UNLV Libraries Website

Search for resources across the UNLV Libraries

Search for articles, books, and more at the UNLV Libraries and beyond using Quick Search.

The default search results will include books, online journal articles, newspaper articles, streaming video and more. Filters on the results page let you select materials by format, subject, date, or language, or you can opt to see only articles from peer-reviewed journals.

Log in with your ACE account to see results from more databases, to save and organize your items and searches, and to access your library account. Learn more in the Quick Search Guide and visit the Off-Campus Access to Library Materials page.

Here are some library databases to help you get started on your search:

African American Communities This link opens in a new window
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1860s-1980s
Primary sources documenting African American communities in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina.
AgeLine This link opens in a new window
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1978-
Abstracts on social gerontology. Also includes health care, public policy, employment, and consumer issues.
Produced by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), this database includes citations with abstracts drawn from the literature in social gerontology -- the study of aging in social, psychological, health-related, and economic contexts. Health care, public policy, employment and consumer issues are particularly well-covered.
Architecture Design & Practice Online This link opens in a new window
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200 key titles focusing on studio design and professional practice, which includes design guidance and technical detail, up-to-date peer-reviewed content, case studies and technical drawings, and over 15,000 images.
Archives Unbound: Native American Studies This link opens in a new window
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5 collections of primary source documents including letters from missionaries and the War Dept, the Meriam Report on Indian Administration, and FBI investigations from the late 20th century.
CINAHL This link opens in a new window
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1982-
The main index for nursing literature and allied health.
Update frequency: weekly
The Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature is an index to literature in nursing and allied health. This database provides indexing, abstracting, and full text for over 1,600 current nursing and allied health journals and publications dating back to 1982, totaling over 700,000 records.
Gale Health and Wellness This link opens in a new window
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Search a full range of health-related issues, from current disease and disorder information to alternative medical practices.
Gale in Context: Global Issues This link opens in a new window
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Gale OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy This link opens in a new window
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Investigate environmental issues with diverse perspectives from the scientific community, policymakers, and corporate interests.
Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine This link opens in a new window
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Find up-to-date information on a range of health care topics. Best for students, researchers, and health care professionals.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Searches scholarly journal articles. Set preferences to UNLV for full text access!
Google Scholar searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and reports from many academic and technical fields. It is freely available to anyone searching the Internet; however, many of the links that lead to full text resources are not. On your first visit, go to Google Scholar Preferences and use the Library Links box to set UNLV as your source for no-fee access to many full text articles. For answers to questions about Google Scholar, check out the FAQ.
LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new window
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Provides an index to the world's literature on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, as well as full text for 55 of the most important and historically significant LGBT journals, magazines and regional newspapers, as well as more than 100 full-text monographs/books.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that provides free access to MEDLINE, the NLM database of indexed citations and abstracts to medical, nursing, dental, veterinary, health care, and preclinical sciences journal articles. It also includes additional selected life sciences journals not found in MEDLINE.
RAND Reports This link opens in a new window
Think tank reports and documents on social and political issues.
Searches the RAND archive of over 17,000 titles dating back to 1948. RAND publications deal with such issues as national defense, education and training, health care, criminal and civil justice, labor and population, science and technology, community development, international relations, and regional studies.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
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1960-
Scopus is an index to peer-reviewed scientific, medical, technical, and social science literature.
Scopus also features a citation index, allowing you to find the papers that cite a specific piece of research.
Social Sciences Citation Index This link opens in a new window
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The Social Sciences Citation Index ® (SSCI ®) provides access to current and retrospective bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references found in over 1,700 of the world's leading scholarly social sciences journals covering more than 50 disciplines.
They also cover individually selected, relevant items from approximately 3,300 of the world's leading science and technology journals.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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1990-
Web of Science is a platform for Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Index, Journal Citation Reports, Biological Abstracts, MEDLINE, and Inspec.
Help?

Books

Person-Centered Health Care Design by Dak Kopec
ISBN: 9780367194857
Publication Date: 2021
Improving Healthcare Operations by Sharon J. Williams
ISBN: 3319469134
Publication Date: 2016

Honors 440 - Healthcare reDesign

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