Nursing 201 Introduction to Literature Searching

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Nursing 201Introduction to Literature Searching

• Heather Ganshorn, MLIS
• Liaison Librarian for Nursing
• University of Calgary

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Topics to be Covered

• Database Basics
• Starting Your Research
• Scholarly Journals
• Electronic Resources at the UofC
• Overview of CINAHL
• sample search
• practice searching
• Overview of Online Catalogue
• sample search
• practice searching

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Database BasicsWhat is an Electronic Database?

• Databases consist of citations to articles,
  chapters, essays
• Databases provide a quick and efficient means of
  finding materials on a given topic
• Most databases have similar features and
  functions, although the method of performing
  these functions varies

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Electronic Database BasicsFields Records

• Databases consist of records
• Each record includes fields
• Fields include author, title, journal title,
  abstract, subject headings

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Searching Electronic Databases

• A good search strategy is key to successful
  searching
• Think about your topic
• Is it broad or unfocused
• What are the key terms
• What do you want to find out about the topic

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Searching Electronic Databases What is a Search
Strategy?

• A Search Strategy is your search plan
• helps to identify key words or ideas to use when
  you are searching for information on a specific
  topic
• assists in identifying synonyms for each term
• outlines which terms are major concepts to be
  combined

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when? current historical
TOPIC vision of nursing
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Identify Your Research Topic Clearly

• Put your research topic into a concise statement
  or questionWhat is the nurses role in caring
  for the elderly?
• Identify key concepts / termsWhat is the nurses
  role in caring for the elderly?
• Brainstorm synonyms
• Combine terms with Boolean logic (OR, AND)

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What is Boolean Logic

• With the advent of electronic databases and the
  Web, understanding and applying Boolean logic
  correctly is fundamental to all online searching
• Boolean search statements are used to narrow or
  expand a search by linking search terms with the
  connectors AND, OR, NOT
• Boolean operators define how the searches are
  performed

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Boolean Logic - OR

• Brainstorm synonyms for your search terms
• Use the connector OR to link synonyms
• The OR operator is used to broaden a search or
  increase results
• The more terms you OR the more records you
  retrieve

elderly
aged
seniors
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Boolean Logic - AND

• Use AND to combine search concepts A B
• The AND operator is used to narrow a search or
  decrease results
• The more search concepts you AND the fewer
  records you retrieve

elderly aged seniors
nurses role
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Keyword vs Subject Searching

• Two basic ways of searching for information in a
  database
• keyword searching what you saywords that you
  use to describe your topic
• subject searching what they saywords used by
  professional indexers where all like topics are
  indexed under the same subject phraseexample
  Yellow Pages

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Keyword vs Subject Searching

• philosophy of nursing
• vision of nursing
• flesh eating disease
• breast cancer

• philosophy, nursing
• nursing as a profession
• fasciitis, necrotizing
• breast neoplasms

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Distinguishing ScholarlyJournal Articles

• Scholarly, Refereed, Peer Reviewed
• all essentially mean the same thing
• Refereed or Peer Reviewed journals are
• scholarly journals that have a rigourous approval
  and editing process
• experts in the field evaluate each article before
  acceptance for publication

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Journal -- Whats In a Name?

• Having journal in the title does not mean the
  information is scholarly
• Wall Street Journal
• Ladies Home Journal

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Characteristics of Scholarly Journals

• Appearance serious lengthy articles, abstracts,
  bibliographies, table of contents
• Graphics charts, graphs
• Advertising minimum, select advertising geared
  to subject of journal
• Audience researchers and professionals in the
  discipline
• Authors articles written by scholars and
  researchers in the field, discipline or specialty

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Characteristics of Scholarly Journals continued

• Language technical terminology reader assumed
  to have scholarly background
• Purpose inform, report or make available
  original research, critiques and literature
  reviews
• Sources includes full citations to sources with
  references or bibliographies
• Some databases allow you to specify scholarly
  (peer-reviewed) articles only

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Examples of Scholarly Journals
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Electronic Resources at the UofC

• To access, connect to
• www.ucalgary.ca/library
• Choose Article Indexes
• Nursing - Databases specifically related to
  nursing
• Complete List - alphabetical listing of all
  indexes and abstracts (i.e. databases)
• Full-text - databases which include the entire
  article which you can print out

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Accessing Electronic Resources

• Access from Information Commons, Nursing Learning
  Commons, elsewhere on campus
• Access from home
• Student ID card (Campus Card)
• User ID - first nine digits of the barcode number
  on back of campus card (i.e. delete last digit)
• PIN the number on the front of your campus
  card, with any leading zeroes removed

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CINAHL Database

• Primary database for Nursing
• Indexes books, articles, dissertations
• Coverage from 1982 - present
• Includes all aspects of Nursing and Allied Health
• Includes abstracts and subject heading
  descriptors, but NOT full-text articles

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CINAHL Passwords for Today

• IDs
• train01
• train02
• train14
• train15

Password sepab
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CINAHL SAMPLE SEARCH

• Research TopicWhat is the nurses role in
  meeting a patients spiritual needs?
• Identify key concepts and brainstorm
  synonyms/related concepts

Spiritual needs
Nurses Role
Spirituality
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CINAHL SAMPLE SEARCH
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Online Catalogue

• Includes books, journal titles (NOT individual
  article titles), government documents
• Check user status -- how many items borrowed, due
  dates, bills
• Renew books online

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Connect to Catalogue

• Library homepagewww.ucalgary.ca/library
• Click catalogue from top right black menu bar
• Click user services to renew books, find out
  about fines and holds

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Online Catalogue Sample Search

• Find journal titles
• British Journal of Nursing
• Computers in Nursing
• Find book title
• Advocacy a nurses guide

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Online Catalogue Keyword Search

• Find books on a topic using keyword search
• nursing and ethics
• patient advocacy
• nursing and canada

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Online Catalogue Subject Search

• Find books on a topic using subject search
• You must know the correct subject headings
• Best to use keyword search in online catalogue

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Getting Your Hands on the Books and Journals for
Nursing?

• Health Sciences Library, attached to the
  Foothills Hospital
• Go in person or order campus loan where item is
  sent to MacKimmie for you
• email meddoc_at_ucalgary.ca
• indicate campus loan as subject
• provide full citation for items requested
• no charge for books
• 0.20/page for photocopying
• Should arrive next day at MacKimmie

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Journal not in U of C Library? Try CISTI Source

• Go to library homepage, click Services?Order
  Documents?CISTI Source
• Enter your library ID and PIN, then do a journal
  search
• Only good for journal articles, NOT books

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No Luck with CISTI, or You Need a Book? Try
Document Delivery

• When an item is not held by the University of
  Calgary, you can obtain it through Document
  Delivery Services at no cost to you
• In person 2LT
• Via web DDS Formhttp//www.ucalgary.ca/library/d
  ocdel/
• Refer to Document Delivery handout
• For faster service, choose Health Sciences as the
  pickup/processing location
• Items may take 2 weeks or more to arrive if
  ordered from MacKimmie

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Additional Information

• Library Homepagewww.ucalgary.ca/library
• Library Information for Nursingwww.ucalgary.ca/l
  ibrary/subjects/NURS
• For Help, ContactHeather Ganshornhganshor_at_ucalg
  ary.ca220-3752