MSN Orientation - Sue Owens
Online Library Resources for Nursing Research
Starting your Research
To effectively research health sciences topics, it is essential to use the appropriate resources. Reference books are a good starting point for finding background information on your topic. To locate reference books, you may wish to search your topic in the Electronic Medical Library Stat!Ref that searches the contents of many medical reference books. There are also many online encyclopedias available through our Online Reference Resources collection. Also, Ebrary is a collection of many online books that may prove to be helpful. For more information on how to use Ebrary, click here.
After gathering background information on your topic, you will want to focus your search in general and research databases to find articles on your topic. When doing research from off-campus, you will need to log-on to use databases and other online resources licensed by FSU. Click here for information on off-campus database access. For more extensive information on using library resources from off campus, please visit the Distance Education Library Services webpages.
Finding Library Materials
The snapshot of the Library Homepage below highlights the Find menu which is a good starting point to find various library resources.
To find books, journals, videos, and other library materials, there are several resources to use. Beginning at the library's homepage, you will find links for locating all types of library materials.
- Find Books, videos, and more using the online catalog. The online catalog is set-up so you can perform keyword searches, subject searches, title searches, etc.
- Find Articles using Databases. You can select Health and Medical Resources if you are specifically searching a health-related topic, or select other subject areas as necessary.
- Find Journals using the online catalog journals tab. Journals may be available online, in print, or in microform. You can search by the full journal title, title words, or by subject.
- Find Online Encyclopedias, Handbooks, and other Reference Books using the Online Reference Resources.
Building a Search Strategy
In order to effectively retrieve information, it's very important to have a well-designed search. Please see the Building a Search Strategy Handout
Finding Articles using FLITE Databases
You may want to take a look at this guide which assists you with building search strategies: Building a Search Strategy
Stat!Ref
As stated above, Stat!Ref is an excellent starting point for researching medical topics. Enter your search term into the search box and you will obtain a rank-ordered list of results taken from various medical encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other medical reference books. A very helpful feature of this database is the Related Concepts box to the left of the results that will provide you with synonyms for your topic. These related concepts or synonyms can be used to enhance your searches in this database, as well as the other databases. You can also use medical acronyms and abbreviations when searching in this database.
Click here for a Stat!Ref Database Guide.
CINAHL
The Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) currently gathers information from more than 3000 journals. Once you've run a search, use the options on the left-hand side to narrow your date range, and consider using Subject: Major Heading to limit your search to a major topic of interest. You can narrow and expand your search using other options available in this database.
To get the full text of the articles, you will need to click on the Find It link. For more information on getting the full text of articles, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles section below.
Click here for a CINAHL database guide
PubMed
This is the largest biomedical database, with over 22 million citations, that searches the contents of MEDLINE and life sciences journals. Search this National Library of Medicine database using keywords and select the Limits link if you would like to put limits on your search. Don't forget to use the Related Citations link when you find an article that is very much on topic. MedlinePlus (Consumer Health) is the National Library of Medicine database containing information oriented towards patients.
In PubMed, to get the full text of the articles, you will need to click on the Find It link. For more information on getting the full text of articles, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles section below.
Click here for a PubMed tutorial.
General OneFile
This is a general database that will be useful for finding information on about any topic you can come up with! Start off using the default Subject Guide search box that allows you to search single subjects, and if you don't find your subject, select the Basic Search or Advanced Search options to search by keyword. The Advanced Search will let you limit your articles to particular journals, as well as to full-text, peer-reviewed, etc. Academic Onefile is a database that will have many similar articles, but will also have unique content, so try them both! Academic OneFile operates in the same manner as General OneFile.
ERIC
The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) is a premier resource for finding information for many aspects of education, including nursing education. Once you graduate, you will still have access to ERIC through the Department of Education, because it is another database made available by the U.S. government, as is PubMed.
ABI Inform
This business database contains much content relevant to the Nursing Administration concentration, as well as the Nursing Informatics concentration.
Health & Wellness Resource Center
Find information from medical encyclopedias, journal articles, pamphlets, videos, and more using this database that is filled with information oriented towards health care consumers. This is a nice place to get a general overview of different diseases and conditions, as well as medications.
Academic Press IDEAL Journals via Science Direct and Health Sciences Sage Full Text are collections of online full-text journals. You may search by keyword to locate full-text articles within these journal collections.
Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles
In some databases you will see an option for a Text version of the document or a PDF version. In general, the PDF version is preferable as it is most often a scanned version of the original and will therefore contain the graphics. When e-mailing, printing, or saving a group of articles, be sure to select the full-text or PDF option if available.
Some databases contain little full-text, but allow you to link out to Ferris' holdings or the interlibrary loan request form. You will notice the Find it! links following individual citations that will indicate the availability of the article online, in the library, or the need to interlibrary loan the article. Click on the Go button and you will be taken to the online version, library holdings record, or interlibrary loan form to obtain the article you desire. See image below.
Sample Journal Link-Out:
Evaluating your Articles
Before requesting articles from interlibrary loan, please review the abstract and make sure that the article is on-topic. Also, please insure that the article is in a language that you speak, as some databases, such as PubMed index many non-English articles that have abstracts written in English. After you have evaluated the topical coverage and language of the article, please do not hesitate to request it through interlibrary loan if it is not available on campus.
Other Useful Library Links
Nursing Research Guide: Find links to databases, online books, societies, etc. that are relevant to your profession.
Find Articles:
Look for articles using FLITE's databases.
Find Journals:
Look for journals by doing title searches, or search by subjects. For nursing, select Health Sciences as the subject, and Nursing as the subcategory to get a listing of the many journals available in this area.
Find Books and More:
Look for books, journals, videos, and other library holdings.
APA Citation Style Guide:
Learn basics about APA style, a prevalent citation format in the medical field.
Northern Michigan University's APA Style Guide: An excellent APA style resource, with nursing specific examples, including citing a book from Stat!Ref.
Publicly Available Databases
After you graduate, some key databases that will still be available include:
PubMed: Yes, this premiere database will still be available, but you will not have the Find It button to access the journals available through Ferris.
MedlinePlus (Consumer Health): This is an excellent place to find information directed towards patients, and information in multiple languages.
ERIC: This education-oriented database is freely available.
Any more questions? Contact: Alison (Ali) Konieczny / Email / Phone: 231-591-3696 / Office: FLITE 315
Don't forget, you are welcome to come to the Oval Information Desk and ask for help any time. You can also call us 231-591-3602 or chat with us.
Last update: August 16, 2012