Use current professional journal research articles to answer foreground questions. A foreground question is specific and relevant to a clinical issue that, when answered, provides evidence for clinical decision making.
Use the 4A process to answer foreground questions: Ask, Acquire, Appraise, and Attribute
If you are asked to find Evidence Based articles, your instructor wants you to review research studies to find supportive evidence of best practices.
When determining whether to use a information from a specific journal, find out whether the journal publishes research articles, and what areas they primarily publish in.
See if the journal undergoes a peer-review evaluation of the articles submitted to them before they are accepted for publication. Learn about Peer Review in 3 Minutes from the NCSU Libraries.
In Ebsco databases, click on the journal title in the Source field for a description of the journal, major subjects covered, and to find out if the journal is peer-reviewed.
Use CINAHL to find an Occupational Therapy Research article that is peer-reviewed.
In Advanced Search, click on "Show More" in the Refine Results options to see a full list of limiters, including Published Date, English Language, Peer Reviewed and Research Article.
Purugganan and Hewitt's article How to Read a Scientific Article is recommended for effectively reading, comprehending and utilzing research articles for your studies.
Professional publications use research to determine the effectiveness of Occupational Therapy interventions, and to improve upon diagnosis and prognosis of diseases, disorders and conditions.
Use the Publication field limiter in CINAHL Complete to limit your search to American Journal of Occupational Therapy or another core OT publication.
Search theses resources to find evidence based research articles.
Search for articles across all NSCC resources using Ebsco Discovery Search
If the NSCC Library does not have access to the article you need, free electronic document delivery services are available to NSCC students, faculty and staff.
