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Ferris Library for Information, Technology and Education
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  Alison (Ali) Konieczny
  Email
  Phone: 231-591-3696
  Office: FLITE 315
 

NURS 610 - Teschendorf


Staying Current on Issues and Trends in Nursing Education

In order to stay current on issues and trends in nursing education, recent articles and news from relevant associations should be consulted. Recent articles can be found by searching databases, discussed in the next section of this webpage. Some key association websites to consult include:


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, such as books, articles, journals, subject guides, etc..

find button

Finding Articles using FLITE Databases

When searching for articles, you will want to focus your search in general and research databases. For off-campus database access, you will need to log-on. Simply use your MyFSU username and password to log-on. For more information on off-campus database access, click here.

Starting at the Library's homepage, then clicking on the Find button shown above, then selecting Articles, and then the correlating subject area from the left-hand menu, you will find links to the following databases:

PubMed
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This is the largest biomedical database, with over 19 million citations. Search using keywords and then limit your search if necessary using the Advanced Search, related articles link, or selecting the Review link to see only review articles. Many citations are available in this database for nursing education and instructional design. In order to link out to the full text of articles through PubMed: 1) click into the full record 2) click on the Find It link to try to access the full text. For an example, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles link below.

Click here for a PubMed Tutorial.

CINAHL
The Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) currently gathers information from more than 1800 journals. Use the CINAHL Headings tab to get more subject-specific information on various topics. When you have found your subject heading, you may click on it to break your topic down by subdivision. Click on the Search Options link to the right of the results to add multiple limits such as peer-reviewed or publication date limits, and click on the recommended subjects to the left of your results to narrow your topic by subject. If the full text of the article is not available in the database, click on the Find It link and you will be taken to the familiar SFX page. For an example, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles link below.

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 Find Subject search box, and if you don't find your subject, use the search box at the top of the screen to search by keyword. Also consider switching to the Advanced Search that 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. If the full text of the article is not available in the database, click on the Find It link and you will be taken to the familiar SFX page. For an example, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles link below.

ERIC
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The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) contains many articles with information relevant to nursing education. When using this database, consider clicking on the Advanced Search tab and entering Nursing Education or Instructional Design in the first search box, and changing the drop down menu from Keywords to Descriptors. You can then enter keywords in the boxes below and find articles pertaining to specific areas of interest in nursing education. If the full text of the article is not available in the database, click on the Find It link and you will be taken to the familiar SFX page. For an example, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles link below.


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 the example below:

Sample Article 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.


Books

There are many books available on nursing education. In the Online Catalog, subject searches for nursing education revealed the following lists of books: **Note, you can also search by keyword, author, title, etc.

Many more online books are available through multiple sources.

  • ebrary Online Books: Search by keyword to find interesting e-books. For more information on how to use ebrary, click here
  • Stat!Ref: This database searches the contents of many medical reference books.
  • Electronic Reference Resources: This is a collection of online reference books (mostly encyclopedias). These resources cover many different subject areas, including education and health and medicine.
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library can be used to search through multiple encyclopedias from the above mentioned Electronic Reference Resources at the same time.

Nursing Education Journals and Other Education Journals

Some of the relevant journals to nursing education that are available through the library include:

Getting Library Help

  • Call us at the oval information desk: (231) 591-3602

  • E-mail the reference desk or e-mail Ali.
  • Chat with us online, it's like instant messaging smiley


    • Other Useful Library Links

    To find books, journals, videos, and other library materials, there are several resources to use. Beginning at the library's homepage, and clicking on Find you will find links for locating all types of library materials.

    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: January 20, 2010





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