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Nursing (BScN & PN)

Essential Search Tips

AND finds records with all of your terms/keywords and narrows your search.

OR finds records with any of the terms and broadens your search.

Truncation finds records with a term's various endings. For example, nurs* = nurse, nurses, nursing, nursed, etc.

Quotation marks search for a phrase instead of individual words. For example, "social media".

Tips for Finding Nurse Authored Articles

  1. Click "Advanced Search" (below the search fields) to open the advanced search options menu, and select "Any author is Nurse."
    Note:this often creates a search with very limited search results - try the suggestions below if results aren't suitable.


 

  1. Enter nurs* in a search field and change the search field option to "AF Author Affiliation." 
    The asterisk (*) acts as a 'wildcard' and enables a broad search for words such as "nurse," "nurses," "nursing," etc. The AF Author Affiliation search limiter looks for the "nurs*" term in an author's job title or institutional affiliation (such as the nursing faculty at a university).


     
  2. For a broad search for articles with a nursing perspective or focused on the nursing profession, add "nurs*" as a keyword. 
    The asterisk (*) acts as a 'wildcard' and enables a broad search for words such as "nurse," "nurses," "nursing," etc. Adding this term to your search can help retrieve articles that may not be written by nurses, but those published in nursing or other healthcare journals or with a nursing focus.


     
  1. When conducting a search, enter RN, RPN, PN, or other nursing credentials as a keyword. Check results carefully to ensure that the author is a nurse (see below). 

    Read carefully! Look at article bylines or author biographies (often on the first or last page of an article) for RN (Registered Nurse), RPN (Registered Practical Nurse), or other professional credentials. If a credential is unfamiliar (i.e., ARNP = Advanced Registered Nurse Practicioner) try a google search to determine nursing qualifications.


     
  2. For a broad search for articles with a nursing perspective or focused on the nursing profession, add "nurs*" as a keyword. 
    The asterisk (*) acts as a 'wildcard' and enables a broad search for words such as "nurse," "nurses," "nursing," etc. Adding this term to your search can help retrieve articles that may not be written by nurses, but those that are published in nursing or other healthcare journals or have a nursing focus.

Tips for Finding Articles from Nursing Journals

If you're looking for articles specifically from nursing journals, one good strategy to search for them is to search nurs* in the Publication Name field. 

  1. In CINAHL Complete, it can be done as follows: 
    Enter nurs* in a search field and change the search field option to "SO Publication Name." 
    The asterisk (*) acts as a 'wildcard' and enables a broad search for words such as "nurse," "nurses," "nursing," etc. The SO Publication Name search limiter looks for the "nurs*" term in any publication title (and so any nursing journals with nurs in them should come up).

     
  2. In the Library Page1+, it can be accomplished as follows:
    Enter (SO "nurs"*) in the search bar as one of your concepts. 


    You can add more of your key concepts into the search string alongside this search command:

Finding Specific Types of Research

Sometimes you will need to find a specific type of research paper, for example qualitative or quantitative research, or review articles. These tips will help you limit your results.

Quantitative (which is about the measurement of a construct and is often numerical, precise, measurable)

  • In the Abstract field of the search box try any of these related terms: quantitative, cohort, valid*, hypothesis, instrument*, method*, reliabilit*.

Qualitative (which is research for working at eliciting a narrative response and is experiential, not as easily measurable numerically)

  • In the Abstract field of the search box, try any of these related terms: qualitative, survey or surveys, interview*, observation*, narrative*, questionnaire*, focus group*, sample*, scale* etc.

Review (systematic, scoping, narrative, etc.)

  • In the Title field of the search box try searching for the word review. If you want a specific type of review, you can add that - for example systematic, scoping, narrative, etc.

 

Fixing Search Problems

Zero Results

  • first check your spelling :). And don't forget that British (paediatric) and American (maternal labor) spelling might effect your search results
  • try using a term that might be more inclusive. For example, if your search yields no results for achondroplasia, then try dwarfism, or even try musculoskeletal then AND this term with disorder* OR condition.

Too Few Results

  • use truncation and OR (ie. baby OR babies OR infant* OR toddler*), (heart OR cardiac) to expand the results
  • find a CINAHL or MeSH Heading subject and click the Explode box to find all articles indexed with terms relating to your heading
  • search for articles listed in the bibliographies at the end of relevant articles that you do find
  • perform an Author field search for the names of relevant authors who are listed in these bibliographies
  • click on Find Similar Results (Ebsco databases) or Find more documents like this (Proquest) from the full record page of a relevant article
  • try Cited References (CINAHL) or References (Proquest) on the search results page for more references
  • try the Social Sciences grouping of databases if your topic is geared to social, psychological, or family issues

Non-relevant Results

  • use proper subject headings. For example, CINAHL uses Psychiatric Nursing rather than Mental Health Nursing
  • find a relevant article in your list of results, and use its proper subject headings to redo your search
  • try the Social Sciences grouping of databases

Too Many Results

  • if your search yields too many results (ie. diabetes), use AND to make it more specific (ie. diabetes AND therapy AND adult)
  • search for your terms in the Title field (from the pull-down menu on the search box)
  • use database-specific proper Subject headings
  • in CINAHL try specific Subheadings (from your blue hot-linked subject term appearing after a CINAHL Headings search)
  • find a CINAHL Heading subject and click the Major Concept box to see articles that emphasize your subject
  • use more limiters (ie. date range, publication type, special interest groupings, document type, journal title etc.