Databases enable you to access journal articles, technical reports, professional guidance and information to support your studies.
Search or browse All4Maternity for information on childbirth, midwifery and pregnancy. Includes access to blogs, eLearning modules, podcasts and the journals Practising Midwife and the Student Midwife. PLEASE NOTE YOU MUST REGISTER FOR ACCESS BEFORE VISITING DATABASE. REGISTRATION CODE AVAILABLE HERE
AMED - The Allied and Complementary Medicine Database
![]() |
If you want advice on using the databases, help with search techniques or choice of databases for your topic contact the Mary Seacole Library Liaison Team who are happy to arrange one-to-one and small group tutorials, or use the Library online help available at Library Help. Further information on support offered by Library and Learning Resources can be found under the Help Me! tab. Video guides to using the databases and finding the full text of papers can be found in the tabs in this box. |
![]() |
TIPS guides (in Word or pdf) |
![]() |
Many of the journal indexing databases do not provide access to all of their indexed content. Library and Learning Resources subscribes to many journal titles which, though indexed by the databases, do not have the full text linked directly from the database. To make sure that you are able to link to all of the available titles and obtain the full text when they are not, prepare for your search by doing the following: |
.
![]() |
The following video guides demonstrate how to perform the various elements of a search on CINAHL. They have no soundtrack and none are longer than 60 seconds. |
![]() |
The Cochrane Library consists of a series of databases, all of which can be searched together. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) consists of Cochrane Systematic Reviews and Protocols for Systematic Reviews. These are Open Access and Full Text. |
Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) consists of abstracts for systematic reviews that have been published in journals and by other organizations. Some of these may have links to Open Access full text.
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CCRCT) consists of references (with abstracts) to published controlled trials found in journals by the Cochrane Review Teams. These are not full text and therefore would need to be checked against the University holdings
![]() |
NHS Evidence is the main source for health and social care guidelines. It is managed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and includes guidelines from, among others, NICE, SCIE, SIGN, and the HTA Programme as well as the NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries on current evidence and the British National Formulary (BNF). |
NHS Evidence is open access and most of the documents it will find are open full text. Below are two videos which demonstrate basic searches of the two key resources (Evidence Search and CKS).
![]() |
In many of the databases it is possible to set up a personal account which you can then use to save search strategies, individual references and set up alerts. These accounts are not usually with the database but with the host provider. Thus it can be possible to have one account which works across multiple databases. For example: EBSCOhost supply us with CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, British Education Index, ERIC, Child Development & Adolescent Studies and GreenFILE. One account will work across all of these databases. |
TRiP (Turning Reseach into Practice) is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care.
TRiP provide a series of videos explaining how to get the most from the database. Click here to view the videos.
There are also many useful webpages freely available on the internet - but remember that not all information on the web is reliable To help we have developed an Evaluating Webpages guide, with some basic steps to help you ensure that the information you use adds to the quality of your work
These are some webpages that will be useful in your studies. Links to professional bodies are shown in the Professional Development section of this guide
These resources are particularly useful for midwifery. If you can think of any others we should include, let us know!