HED 207: Youth Health Issues, Pettit, FA 2024: Home

Librarians can help you learn to make the most of the information resources, tools, and services of Murphy Library and beyond!

Weekdays & Sunday afternoons (fall/spring):

• Visit us at the reference desk (1st floor)
• Call us at 608.785.8508
• Web Chat with us

Any time (year-round):

• Email us -- we'll email you back asap (refemail@uwlax.edu)
• Schedule an appointment (in-person or online)

This library guide was put together to highlight information resources in public health and community health, focusing on youth. This is intended to help you access and explore library resources in order to find peer-reviewed journal articles to use in your assignment.

Murphy Library connects UWL students to information not only by providing free access to resources, but also by offering help when it comes to searching for and evaluating information. Feel free to reach out to the library with any questions you have throughout your research process. This guide will be here for the remainder of the semester, so please refer back to it!

For your assignment, you have been asked to find peer-reviewed journal articles. How do we differentiate these from other types of information?

You may have encountered an assignment like this already in your time at UWL, or maybe a professor has asked that you find "scholarly" sources (also called academic sources) for a research assignment. Often, we create a duality, sorting sources into broad categories - either scholarly or popular - we do this to make it easier to get the conversation started. Of course, there are much more than two types of information out there.

Popular sources are information intended for a general audience or for the public. Popular sources can be anything from a social media post to a news article; it's a broad category. Some distinguishing traits of popular sources:

• Written to inform, entertain, or persuade
• Short-to-medium length, with language that is understandable to a wide audience
• Often contain photographs, illustrations, charts and advertisements
• Rarely list their sources, may have interviews or contextual links
• Written by staff writers or freelance

Scholarly sources, in contrast, have distinguishing traits such as:

• Written by experts in a field for other experts (authors' names are usually listed with their credentials, like institutional affiliations and/or degrees)
• Contribute new knowledge (empirical research article) or summarize what is known (review article) - more types of scholarly sources
• Use formal language and only contain figures, tables, charts, or graphs that convey information
• Usually divided into sections and include headings such as abstract, literature review, methodology, results, and conclusion
• Have in-text citations and a formal list of references

It's important to remember the distinction between scholarly and peer-reviewed: peer-review is a formal process in which works are evaluated by fellow experts in a field prior to publication. Not all scholarly articles have gone through the peer-review process! Ask yourself:

Is it a journal article?

Look for both an article and a journal title. Look for volume and issue numbers. Look for an abstract (this is a summary; most scholarly articles are long, usually 6+ pages). Look for a DOI (digital object identifier).

Is it peer-reviewed?

Look for a publication history or revision dates on the first page of the article (the dates indicate when the article went through the peer-review process). Look for the name of the journal and search up the journal's homepage, then look for a description of the journal, or for a section with a "peer review policy" or information for authors.

Special thanks to UW Green Bay for their help in creating this guide!

1. Think about your topic. Try different brainstorming techniques - concept mapping, talking out loud, writing full sentences...

Ask yourself, "What do I want to know?" What is relevant to the prompt of your assignment? What matters to you? Consider the 5Ws to start shaping the scope. 

Pull out key terms (words or phrases you might use in a search) and make lists of synonyms for each term.

2. Try searching in multiple places.

Search@UW is a far-reaching tool that covers a wide variety of information. Try your searches in a few of the library databases listed on this guide. Try your searches in a few of the journals.

Don't try just one search. Try many different approaches with different search terms until you find relevant results!

Set aside a place for you to take notes while you search; keep track of where you've searched, what terms you've used, and save the permalinks so you can get back to any sources that caught your eye.

Start with simple keyword searches, then try out some advanced search tips.

3. Access full text of articles.

Once you've read an abstract for an article you would like to continue reading, look for a link to view the PDF or for full text. 

Use Murphy Library ILLiad Interlibrary Loan service for items not available in your local libraries.

4. Reach out for help!

Visit the library Reference Desk in Murphy. Call us at (608) 785-8508, email refemail@uwlax.edu, or use the Ask A Librarian online form.

Set up an Individual Research Consultation