LibGuides: Communication Disorders Research Guide: Databases

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Search MU Libraries' collection, both print and electronic, with this web discovery tool. Enter terms below for a Summon Basic search or click the Summon Search link above to go directly to Advanced search.

What is a...?

Scholarly journal "A scholarly journal is different from a magazine or other periodical because it’s a respected forum in which scholars share their research. The articles in journals are usually peer-reviewed, and can be taken as legitimate scholarly knowledge."
Peer-reviewed journal "Peer Review is a process that journals use to ensure the articles they publish represent the best scholarship currently available. When an article is submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, the editors send it out to other scholars in the same field (the author's peers) to get their opinion on the quality of the scholarship, its relevance to the field, its appropriateness for the journal, etc."
Research article Research articles are most often published in scholarly journals and usually contain: • a summary or “abstract” • a description of the research • the results they got • the significance of the results.
Review article (Sometimes called "Research Review" articles) "are an attempt by one or more writers to sum up the current state of the research on a particular topic...[they] are virtual gold mines if you want to find out what the key articles are for a given topic."
Literature review Qualitatively summarizes evidence on a topic using informal or subjective methods to collect and interpret studies.
Systematic review (Also called a "systematic literature review"), is a type of literature review that focuses on a particular research question and tries to identify and synthesize all high quality research evidence relevant to that question.
Primary source Original research or materials that have not been filtered through interpretation or evaluation by a secondary party.
Secondary source Sources that contain commentary on or a discussion about a primary source. Analyzes and interprets research results or scientific discoveries.

Source material courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries.

Evaluating Popular & Scholarly Articles

Not sure if you have a "popular" or a "scholarly" source? Or maybe just need a refresher? MU Libraries Evaluating Sources can help. Here you will find the basic differences between popular and scholarly articles reviewed.

Full Text & Citation Databases and Where to Find Them

MU online databases can provide references to and full-text articles in the subject area of Communication Disorders in a wide range of periodicals from news magazines and newspapers to scholarly and professional journals. Below is a list of citation and full text databases that are recommended for research in your field of study.

To see the complete list of MU Libraries Databases, click on the MU Databases in the Quick Links column on this page.

If you are primarily interested in searching databases recommended specifically for "evidence-based practice," click on the Evidence-Based Practice tab above.

Full Text vs. Citation Databases - What's the difference?

Full text databases, provide citation information, (author, article title, periodical name, volume & issue, date, etc.) for articles, essays, book chapters, dissertations, and other materials. In additiion, the complete source in HTML or PDF formats is also available in the database with an easy click of a button.

Citation (aka. index or bibliographic) databases provide citation information, but generally do not have the source available in full text.

However, don't be discouraged from using citation only databases. Most of the time, there is a link available to the full text outside of the database for an electronic or print copy that is accessible from or owned by MU Libraries. Or there is a link to request the item from another library for sources MU does not own. The link will take you to MU's Information Delivery Services (IDS) where you can log in and place the request.

Remember, if you have questions about choosing or using a database, please consult a librarian.

Recommended Databases

CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
CINAHL Complete provides broad content coverage including over 50 nursing specialties, speech and language pathology, nutrition, general health and medicine and more. With CINAHL Complete users get fast and easy access to top nursing and allied health journals, evidence-based care sheets and quick lessons.
Communication Source This link opens in a new window
The most comprehensive resource on the market for communication research. Communication Source was developed from a merger of high-quality EBSCO databases, Communication and Mass Media Complete and Communication Abstracts (formerly published by Sage), and includes many unique sources not previously available in other databases. Communication Source offers abstracts and indexing as well as full-text content from publications worldwide pertaining to Communication, Linguistics, Rhetoric and Discourse, Speech-Language Pathology, Media Studies and other fields relevant to the discipline.
ERIC (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, provides access to education literature and resources. The database contains more than 1.3 million records and provides access to information from journals included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index. Full text for certain publications is subject to market availability.
MEDLINE This link opens in a new window
MEDLINE provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE uses MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) indexing with tree, tree hierarchy, subheadings and explosion capabilities to search citations from over 5,400 current biomedical journals
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Contains over 25% of the world's science, technology and medicine full-text and bibliographic information in both books and journal formats. Authoritative titles that include high-impact-factor titles such as THE LANCET, Cell and Tetrahedron. Online tutorials show how to customize searches, save search results, and create alerts.