Nursing 300: Definitions Assignment

Types of periodicals

These definitions describe the audience the articles are intended for:

• Popular Journal
  • A periodical written for the layman, such as you would find on the shelf at the grocery store. Examples: Modern Health, Parent’s Magazine, Scientific American
• Scholarly Journal
  • A journal written by professionals for other professionals. The authors assume the readers already possess background knowledge and vocabulary. Examples: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, JAMA

Type of Editorial Process

• Peer Review
  • Sometimes called “Refereed”. This is an editorial process used for quality control, mainly by scholarly journals. If a journal is “Peer Reviewed”, each article has been reviewed by a panel of experts in the discipline before it is published. The experts often suggest revisions that must be made before the article is accepted for publishing. Most, but not all, scholarly journals are peer-reviewed.

Where to read it

• Electronic Journal (or “Online Journal”)
  • This is a journal for which the “full text” (entire articles) can be accessed through the Internet. The Library subscribes to many electronic nursing journals. In many cases, issues from the latest few years may be read online, but older issues are still only available in the traditional paper format. If you do not find the journal you need on the Library’s list Electronic Journals, you will want to check the Library Catalog for other options.

CINAHL – Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature:

• CINAHL is a searchable online database of journal and newsletter articles published on nursing and allied health topics. Although it includes only very limited full text, using the “Find It” button can link you to full text where UNR has access. This database is particularly good for researching topics related to the profession of nursing, such as nursing education, hospital staffing, and the nursing shortage. 1982- present. Pre-CINAHL is a companion database that provides current awareness of new journal articles.

Electronic Reserves

• Instructors often put readings or assignments in the Library for their students to access – these are Course Reserves. Whenever feasible, the Library will scan these readings and make them available through the Library’s Web site. These online reserve readings are called “Electronic Reserves”. To access them from off campus, you will need your library card number (barcode).