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Communication Disorders Research Guide: Evidence-Based Practice

Guide to Communication Disorders research.

Evidence-Based Practice in Communication Disorders

EBP logo

© ASHA

'The goal of EBP is the integration of clinical expertise/expert opinion, external scientific evidence, and client/patient/caregiver perspectives to provide high-quality services reflecting the interests, values, needs, and choices of the individuals we serve.'  (ASHA)

Or as D. Sackett states more simply, "Evidence-based medicine is the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values."

For more information about EBP in Communication Disorders as well as an abundance of resources, go to: http://www.asha.org/members/ebp/ 

In addition to ASHA's resources, please see the list below for recommended databases for EBP research available via MU Libraries.


(Information and graphic courtesy of the American Speech Language Hearing Association (2012). Evidence Based Practice.)

(Sackett, D., et al. Evidence-Based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach EBM, 2nd edition. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 2000, p.1.)

Evidence-Based Databases

CINAHL®Complete is the world’s most comprehensive source of full-text for nursing & allied health journals. This authoritative file contains full text for many of the most used journals in the CINAHL index, with no embargo. CINAHL®Complete is the definitive research tool for all areas of nursing & allied health literature.

Full text of more than 1350 journals
Contains more than 4.1 million records dating back to 1937
CINAHL Headings index with scope notes, major headings search, and subcategories search
Evidence-based Care Sheets
Quick Lessons CE Modules
Graphs, charts, diagrams
Cited references
Evidence based, peer-reviewed, and other search limits are available in advanced searching

MEDLINE, created by the National Library of Medicine, provides medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more.

Indexes citations from over 5,400 current biomedical journals
Contains more than 24 references to records dating back to 1946
MeSH index with scope notes, major headings search, and subcategories search
Search limiters include Evidence-based Medicine Reviews, various types of Clinical Queries, and Publication Types in advanced searching.

**MEDLINE is also available via PubMed. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher websites. Links to full-text items available from Marshall University Libraries are included when clicking on citations using this link.

A definitive source of full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology.
Contains content from journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA), its imprint the Educational Publishing Foundation (EPF), and from allied organizations including the Canadian Psychological Association and the Hogrefe Publishing Group.
Includes all journal articles, book reviews, letters to the editor, and errata from each journal.
Coverage spans 1894 to present,
Nearly all APA journals go back to Volume 1, Issue 1. 

Abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations
Largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. 
Contains records and summaries dating as far back as the 1600s Journal coverage spans from the 1800s to the present.

Database Research Tips

Remember these Research Tips highlighted above: 

When using EBSCO's CINAHL Complete database, you can limit your results before you search by going to the Advanced Search page and checking the box next to evidence-based practice in the Limiters section.  (You can also do this after the search by using Limit To tools in the Refine Results section in the left column of your results screen.)

When using MEDLINE (any platform), you have the option of limiting results to "publication," "document" or "article" type depending on the platform you are using.  In this way, you can choose to limit results to clinical trials, systematic reviews, case reports, comparative studies or meta-analysis, for example. PubMed Medline | EBSCO Host Medline 

Evidence-Based Internet Resources