Medical Professions: Tutorials

There are many different types of articles. The chart below can help you figure out which type(s) you're looking for or identify an article you've already found:

	News articles provide the most current information. Certain newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, are also known for thoughtful, in-depth analyses of important topics and events.
	Popular magazine articles can help you generate ideas about issues, controversies, or unanswered questions about a topic, which you might want to explore further. They sometimes refer to studies or scholarly work that you can track down for more information.
	Trade publications are written by and for professionals within an industry. These are an excellent source of very specific information from inside the field.
	Scholarly journal articles go through a process of peer review before they are published. They are written by experts in the field (the people with letters after their name!) and their purpose is to advance the ongoing body of work within the discipline. These articles might present original research data and findings, or take a position on a key question within the field. They can be difficult to read, because their intended audience is other experts and academics, but they are at the top of the line when it comes to authoritative information.

This quick quiz from the Ithaca College Library will test your knowledge and help you learn to tell the difference between different types of journals.

Google's advanced search lets you limit your search to more reliable resources, like education sites or government sites. To do this, add site:edu or site:gov to your regular Google search.

For example: 

• If you do an ordinary Google search for nutritional supplements, most of your top results will be commercial (.com) sites trying to sell you vitamins.
• If you search for nutritional supplements site:gov , the top results (except for the sponsored ads) will be sites such as the National Institute of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, which are authoritative, unbiased sources that are not trying to sell you anything.
• If you search for nutritional supplements site:edu, your top results will be from universities providing research on nutritional supplements.

Learn more Google Search tips from "6 Google Tricks That Will Turn You Into an Internet Detective" in the New York Times.

Before searching, be sure to set PCC as your library in your browser by:

1. Visiting the link to set "Library Links" settings for Google Scholar, 
2. using the search box to search for "Portland Community College",
3. checking the check box that appears underneath the search to select “Portland Community College – Find it @ PCC”, 
4. and then selecting the Save button.

This will ensure that when you search Google Scholar in your browser, you will see Find It @ PCC links to full text if we have the article (Google Scholar sometimes also provides links to other free sources for full text).

You can learn more about setting Google Scholar preferences on the PCC Library Website. 

This quick quiz from the Ithaca College Library will test your knowledge and help you learn how to properly cite sources.