Skip to Main Content

Practical Nursing

What is a Scholarly Journal?

A scholarly journal (also called academic journals, scientific journals, or peer reviewed journals) is a periodical that publishes articles written by experts in a particular field of study. Journals are similar magazines except the articles are written by researchers. Journals and magazines are considered periodicals because they are published continuously over time. The articles are written for experts or students of the field, and use academic or technical language. "Peer-reviewed (also called refereed) journals have an editorial board of subject experts who review and evaluate submitted articles before accepting them for publication. A journal may be a scholarly journal but not a peer-reviewed journal." [1]

Image of three academic journals

Databases provide access to articles that are unavailable on the open Internet. Article databases contain both popular & scholarly articles, and they are used to find journal, magazine and newspaper articles. Although they deliver content online, the content is paid for through library subscriptions. 

Strategies for finding articles in the Library

  • Use OCtopus for a 'Google-like' experience

  • Use a specific database, such as Nursing Reference Center, that will only contain information related to your subject area. 

  • Search within a relevant journal. For example, if you want Canadian sources, searching within a Canadian journal would help focus a search.

TIP: When you find a journal article that is relevant to your research/writing, check the reference list to find similar articles.

Relevant Library Databases for Nursing Students

Complete list of practical nursing databases

Tip: Many article databases help you draft citations when you print, save or email them. ALWAYS double check the citations created by databases against the appropriate style guide.

Key Journals & Magazines

Browse these journals and  professional magazines for current information in your field.

Remember many e-journals are licensed by OC Library for student and employee use.  You may be prompted to login to authenticate as an OC user.

Parts of an Academic Research Article

Research articles tend to have 6 or 7 parts, each part is normally labeled.

  • Abstract: This first part of the article, normally at the top and set apart from the rest of the article. The abstract describes what the article is about. 

  • Introduction:The first part of the actual text, it explains why the researchers selected the topic to study and why it is important.

  • Literature Review: In this section the authors discuss research that is important to their study, this section can be long or short. Sometimes the introduction and literature review sections are combined.

  • Methods & Data Analysis: The methods portion of the article explains how the researchers actually conducted the research. Often it will include information on the participants and data collection methods used. They will also explain how the data was analyzed. This section may also include limitations of the research.

  • Results: This is where the authors tell you what they found.

  • Discussion: Here the authors discuss how their findings (results) tie back into the other research done in the field and why what they found is important. They may also give ideas for further research.

  • References: This sections includes all the references to items cited within the body of the article.

Use of filters in OCtopus peer review date resource type

This site is maintained by the librarians of Okanagan College Library.
If you wish to comment on an individual page, please contact that page's author.
If you have a question or comment about Okanagan College Library's LibGuides site as a whole, please contact the site administrator.