When searching in a database, critical thinking skills are essential. Don't waste time and paper! Spend a few minutes reviewing the citation and/or abstract information and consider the following details:
Author: who wrote this and what are his/her credentials and affiliations?
Source: is this a scholarly, professional, popular, or trade publication?
Publisher: who produced this? government? university? corporation?
Date: when was this published?
Audience: for whom is this written? general public? scholars? practitioners?
Purpose: are the findings clearly stated? Are there clear biases?
Data: is methodology explained? Are charts, graphs, illustrations clearly presented?
Conclusions: do the findings support the thesis?
References: are there footnotes and citations leading to related work?
Compare: how does this article compare with other articles in this field?
Use these databases to locate peer-reviewed, scholarly content to support your papers and projects for this course. Feel free to contact the Library for assistance using any of these resources. You can also access these databases from the library homepage www.wpunj.edu/library and clicking on Databases, then select Nursing as your subject. Your WP username and password is all that is needed to login to these resources.
By phone
Call 973-720-2116
By e-mail
Send your question to the Reference Desk via email - refdesk@wpunj.edu
By chat
Schedule a Research Appointment
Contact the library for an appointment
with a Reference Librarian:
