searching made easier & more effective practical nursing 2014 karen hutchens & debbie...

Searching Made Easier & More Effective

Practical Nursing 2014

Karen HutchensKaren Hutchens

& Debbie O’Rielly& Debbie O’Rielly

At the end of the session, students should be able to:

Identify Search TermsPut together a search statementKnow how to use CINAHL

CINAHL headings, limits, print/save

Evaluate search results

Goals

1. Develop a Search Question2. Picking out search terms/concepts3. Come up with synonyms; alternate spellings4. Write a search statement using CINAHL

headings6. Setting search limits7. Looking at & evaluating articles8. Save/print articles or alter search strategy (go

back to step 2 or 3) Check search terms Check spelling Search too narrow or too broad

Steps to Searching

Purpose of Search Question

To determine what you want to knowTo help identify search terms or concepts

Search Question

Scenario:Your instructor is planning a discussion in class

on how to prevent falls in the elderly living in a seniors home. She asks each student to find good current nursing articles on the subject for class.

Search Question

What current information is available about fall prevention in a seniors home?

Search Questions

Key Term 1 Key Term 2 Key Term 3 Falls elderly Seniors

home OR OR OR preventing falls older adults Old age home OR OR OR

safety seniors long term care OR OR aged nursing homes

Search Terms

( ) brackets keep similar terms/concepts together (elderly OR aged OR seniors)

“ ” parentheses used for phrases ONLY“nursing homes” “assisted suicide” “pediatric

nurse”

* Truncation can be substituted for any number of letters

teen* = teen, teens, teenager, teenagernurs* = nurse, nursing, nurses, nurse’s

Other Useful Tools

Link together main search terms and their synonyms and alternative spellings using Boolean terms AND OR

Use this statement for database search

Search Statement

Example:“nursing home” OR “long term care”AND “accidental falls”AND preventionAND nurs* (SO Publication

Name)

Search Statement

Popular vs. Scholarly

Specific, in-depth articles

Original research, new developments in field

Written and intended for specialists, students

Peer-reviewed Standard format Tables, graphs, text Continuous pagination

Broad, shorter articles Overview, social

issues, public opinion Staff, freelance,

popular language In-house Few references Attract, advertising,

entertain Each issue page 1

To access CINAHL, go to this site:http://www.library.mun.ca

Make the following selections to get to CINAHL1.Choose Articles tab2. To Find articles on any topic, use article

search3. Indexes by Subjects, select nursing4. CINAHL with full text

CINAHL

Once in CINAHL, always go to CINAHL Headings first to check your search terms.

If CINAHL heading suggest other terms to use, write them down

Click on New Search, and enter your search terms

CINAHL Headings

Year: last 5 yearsEnglish language

There are articles in CINAHL in other languages. At the end of the article title you will see [language]. Even though the abstract is in English, the article will be in the language indicated in the [ ].

Search limits

Sample of a citation whose article is written in another language:

Facing, accepting, growing and expecting: the practical experience of nursing students during their first clinical practice [Chinese]. (includes abstract); Sun, Jia-Jing; Sun, Hui-Lin; Journal of Nursing, 2011 Apr; 58 (2): 49-56 (journal article) ISSN: 0047-262X PMID: 21455892 CINAHL AN: 2011035176

Search Limits

ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR(S) JOURNAL TITLE

Nursing children and adolescents with bipolar disorder: assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management. Preview (includes abstract); McDougall T; Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 2009 Feb; 22 (1): 33-9 (journal article) ISSN: 1073-6077 PMID: 19200290 CINAHL AN: 2010188996

YEAR MONTH VOLUME ISSUE PAGE NUMBERS

Citation

Does the article answer your search question?If you answered no to this question, then you

need to:Check your search termsCheck your spellingCheck the scope of search

Too specific?Too broad?

Evaluate Articles

to the questions on the previous slide,Congrats! You’re done with the searching

portion of your paper.

If you answered yes

No problem!

Come seeKaren Hutchens Library

ORDebbie O’Reilly Computer Lab

Need Extra Help?