Skyline College
Library

 

Finding Research Articles in Nutrition

Search Preparation
Searching Journal Databases
Finding Periodicals
Community Information Program and Volunteer Opportunities

SEARCH PREPARATION

Before searching for articles on a topic, you should prepare for your search by:

  • developing a clear, specific research topic or research question, and
  • dividing the research topic in "concepts" (different subtopics or elements)

For example, a specific research question might be: 
How does dieting affect teenagers' health?

This research question can be divided into two or three "concepts":

  1. dieting OR diets
  2. teenagers OR teens OR adolescents
  3. health OR healthy

The truncation symbol (*) may be used to search for multiple words with the same root (e.g. diet* for dieting OR diets; adolescen* for adolescents OR adolescence)

Finding articles on research studies:

To try to find articles on research studies, add the following words to to your search: AND (study OR research)

  • Look for articles in scholarly journals that include the following sections:
    • Methods: may include "Procedure", "Participants", "Measures"
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Data (usually included in statistical tables at the end of the article, but may also be presented within other sections)

For more help on how to do search preparation, see Skyline Library's Planning a Search Page.


SEARCHING JOURNAL DATABASES

To access the best research databases for finding articles on a topic, click on "Find Articles" from the Skyline College Library homepage.

Use the following "premium" databases for accessing academic journal articles in nutrition:

Academic OneFile Database: excellent general periodical database.
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required). 

  • From the initial “Basic Search” page, click on "Advanced Search" on the navigation bar near the top of the page.
  • To search only for articles that include the full text (the whole article) in the database, make sure the "documents with full text" box under "Limit the results" (below the text entry boxes) is checked
  • To limit your search to only academic journals, check the "peer-reviewed publications" box under "Limit the results"
  • To limit your search to research articles, click in the first search box and enter the word: study OR research
  • In the second search box, type the search word(s) for the first concept related to your topic. Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept.
  • On the third line, type the search word(s) for the second concept related to your topic. Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept.
  • To limit your search to any nutrition journals, enter: nutrition OR diet* in the box labeled: "by publication title" (near the bottom of the "Limit the results" section) OR to limit your search to a specific journal, e.g. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, enter the name of the journal
  • Click on the SEARCH button to start the search.

    à ALTERNATIVE SEARCH TO LOOK FOR ONLY RESEARCH ARTICLES IN THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION:
  • To limit your search to the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, enter: American Dietetic in the box labeled: "by publication title" (near the bottom of the "Limit the results" section)
  • To search for article abstracts (summaries) as well as full text articles in the database, make sure the "documents with full text" box under "Limit the results" (below the text entry boxes) is not checked.
    * Journal of the American Dietetic Association full-text articles are only available for 5 years back from the current date; full-text articles are available in print copies from the current issue back 5 years
    ** To get the full-text of an article for which only an abstract is provided in the database, go to the library Check Out desk and ask for the print copy of the journal (copy the date and page numbers of the article)
  • To limit your search to research articles, click in the first search box and enter the words: current research
  • In the second search box, type the search word(s) for the first concept related to your topic. Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept.

  • American Journal of Clinical Nutrition provides free access to full-text articles from 1952 to one year back from the current date and Journal of Nutrition has free full-text articles from 1997 to one year back from the current date. (Articles from within the last year may be purchased.)
    • To search the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Nutrition, go to the search page for either journal (by clicking on one of the above links).
    • In the "Text | Abstract | Title" search box, enter the following search words: methods AND results AND discussion
    • In the "Abstract | Title" search box, enter word(s) for your topic.
      Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept., e.g. chocolate OR cocoa
    • In the “Specify Journals to Search” area, check the boxes for both the Journal of Nutrition and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  
    • In "Limit Results", limit the dates to: “From” 5 years back (e.g. 2004) and “through” 1 year back (e.g. 2008).
    • Click on the SEARCH button.

  • Nutrition Journal is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal that considers manuscripts within the field of human nutrition.
    • To search the Nutrition Journal, go to the search page , go to the search page for either journal (by clicking on one of the above links)
    • In the "Citation + abstract" search box, enter word(s) for your topic.
      Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept., e.g. soy OR tofu
    • In the "Article type” pull-down menu, select “Research”
    • In the Date pull-down menus, select “from” 5 years back (e.g. 2004) and “to” the current year (e.g. 2009).


  • PubMed (MEDLINE): freely available on the Web, no password required. Most comprehensive medical journal database available, but includes only abstracts, no full text of articles.
    • In the search box, enter search word(s) as in the following example: (study OR research) AND (nutrition OR diet) AND (heart attack OR coronary disease)
      Note      : the words AND and OR must be CAPITALIZED in the PubMed database
    • Click on the GO button or press Enter

 

FINDING PERIODICALS

Skyline College Library carries two nutrition journals that regularly publish articles on research studies:

  • Journal of Nutrition Education and
  • Journal of the American Dietetic Association (full text of this journal is also available in the Academic ASAP database)

You may browse through recent issues of these journals by requesting copies from the library Check Out desk. Look in the Table of Contents for each issue and look for articles listed under the section: "Research" or "Research Articles".

Skyline Library also carries two major medical journals that sometimes publish nutrition-related research articles: 

  • JAMA - The Journal of the American Medical Association
  • New England Journal of Medicine

Skyline Library also carries these other nutrition and nutrition-related periodicals that do not publish research studies:

  • Nutrition Reviews
  • Nutrition Today
  • Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter
  • Prevention
  • Health
  • University of California at Berkeley Wellness Letter

To find out which other local libraries carry a particular journal, click on: "Finding Periodicals" (also available from the Skyline College Library homepage)

 



Community Information Program (CIP)

The CIP database contains information on health and human service agencies serving San Mateo County and the Bay Area. Fairly extensive descriptions exist for the agencies, including addresses and telephone numbers, but also the names of executive directors, eligibility requirements for service, fees, access by public transportation, wheelchair accessibility into the building, target populations, languages other than English spoken by agency staff, and a narrative description of the services.

Click here to go to the Community Information Program database search page

Other Volunteer Opportunities:

Volunteer Match
Interested volunteers can enter their ZIP code to quickly find local volunteer opportunities posted by nonprofit organizations throughout the United States.

Volunteer Center of San Francisco (VCSF)
A clearinghouse of volunteer information for San Francisco nonprofit organizations, individuals, city agencies, and other civic groups, VCSF also develops more specialized programs for people with disabilities, youth, corporate volunteers, potential board members, and more. The site has a searchable database of organizations desiring volunteer, lists of specific volunteer opportunities, advice for nonprofits on recruiting and working with volunteers, and other information, some of which is also provided in Spanish.

Hands On Bay Area
Register online and then attend a New Volunteer Orientation; over 100 Bay Area volunteer opportunities each month.

San Francisco Bay Area Volunteer Information Center
Alphabetical list of organizations and hints for volunteers and volunteering.



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last revised: 9-22-09
by Eric Brenner, Skyline College, San Bruno, CA