TLU Library: Nursing Research Guide: Finding Articles

Start with These Library Databases

Databases allow you to find scholarly articles, disease overviews, care sheets, book chapters, and more. To see a full list of TLU's databases related to nursing, go to the Nursing Databases page. Here are a few of the key databases and tutorials:

CINAHL Complete

CINAHL Complete provides full text for more than 1,300 journals indexed in CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), with no embargo, as well as health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, evidence-based care sheets and quick lesson disease overviews, and continuing education modules. CINAHL Complete is the definitive research tool for all areas of nursing & allied health literature. Basic Searching Tutorial -- Advanced Searching Tutorial
OvidSP
Provides citations and abstracts to journal articles related to athletic training, sports medicine, nursing & health professions, behavioral sciences, basic sciences, as well as humanities & technologies. Full-text access to 29 key nursing journals (including the American Journal of Nursing) and to open-access articles. Basic Searching Tutorial -- Advanced Searching Tutorial
PubMed

Provides citations from MEDLINE and life science journals for biomedical articles (1950-present), with some full-text links. What does a PubMed journal abbreviation stand for? What's the difference between MEDLINE and PubMed?

Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database
Provides full-text access to health care evidence from evidence-based recommended practices, evidence summaries, best practice information sheets, systematic reviews, consumer information sheets, systematic review protocols, and technical reports. From a TLU PC, users must first create a personal logon to use the evidence-based practice tools which include: Journal Club, RAPID (Rapid Assessment Protocol Internet Database), TAP (Thematic Analysis Program), and Sumari (System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information). 6-minute overview

Sample Boolean searches

To conduct a comprehensive search in a database, you should use the terms recognized by the database. These include subject headings (which standardize all the possible terms for a topic) and keywords (rather than complete sentences.) Find the keywords in your research question, then combine them with AND, OR, and NOT.

Use AND to join multiple concepts in your search. Use OR to combine similar terms for the same concept. Use NOT to exclude a concept. Use NOT sparingly, because you could end up excluding more results than you mean to.

(NICU OR "neonatal intensive care unit") AND feeding

("medication adherence" OR "patient compliance" OR adheren* OR non-adheren* OR nonadheren* OR non-complian* OR noncomplian*)

AND

(drug* OR medicat* OR pill*)

AND

(technology OR alarm OR device OR digital OR electronic OR monitor OR remind OR remote)

"End of life care" AND family AND decision

Prevention AND "pelvic pain" AND pregnancy

Search Tips

1. More precise searches give you more precise results - Use the Advanced Search screen to combine two or three keywords

2. Explore the filters and limiters available

3. Subject headings are your friend - They standardize all possible terms for a topic

--Finding a particular journal--

Search for a particular journal:

Publications by Title