Pharmacy Applied Development Skills (PADS): Using Professional Literature as a Resource

A peer-reviewed (or refereed) article has been read, evaluated, and approved for publication in a professional/academic journal by scholars with expertise and knowledge related to the article's contents. Peer-reviewing helps insure that articles provide accurate, verifiable, and valuable contributions to a field of study.

Some suggested information sources from the Web may be useful but will NOT be considered as a peer-reviewed source; Books and newspapers are also NOT considered peer-reviewed.

You are required to use several "peer-reviewed" sources. Where do you find them?  For this purpose, you will find peer-reviewed literature by using an academic database provided by the library.  A "database" is a collection of information (often from many academic journal articles) that you can search to find the what you need. Some databases include information that is primarily limited to a particular specialization or academic area such as medicine, psychology, art history, or business. Other databases are broader in scope and cover multiple disciplines..  

Therefore, several of the databases included below are not "medical" in scope but  they still may be useful as you research your topics. Some databases offer a "limit to peer-reviewed" or limit to academic articles option, because everything included in the database is not in that category..

Remember that if you are off campus, you will need to go through the proxy server to access the databases.  

The UIW Libraries subscribe to many more databases.  The complete list of Library databases can be found here.

Think about the search terms/keywords that you use: pharmacist OR pharmacy, for example; right to refuse OR conscientious objection, artificial intelligence AND pharmacy  Using OR will give you more information because the search will include either term; combining with AND will give you less information because both terms are required.  A OR B will give you everything; A AND B will give you the overlapping area in the middle of the diagram.

HINT: Do not use OR and AND in the same search statement without appropriate parentheses.  For example: "artificial intelligence and pharmacy or pharmacist" vs "artificial intelligence and (pharmacy or pharmacist)".

Be sure to do the following:

• Take advantage of database features like limiting to available or free full text articles.
• Limit to peer-review or scholarly articles when that option is available.
• Limit by year and language if necessary..
• Pay attention to the additional tools provided by the databases.  For example, PubMed includes similar articles and citing articles for most articles.  These can lead to additional valuable resources. 

Reading a Scientific Article

Scientific articles can be difficult to read and understand.  Most articles are written in a systematic format which includes an introduction, a review of literature in the field, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, and cited references.

1. Read the title. abstract. and conclusion to determine relevance.
2. If you decide that the article is relevant for the information that you want, read the article systematically.

You may want to use professional Pharmacy resources as you research your topic.  An excellent starting point for access to those resources is the Feik School of Pharmacy Library page.