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Introduction to Nursing

The librarian for this class is  Ms. Bonnie Chojnacki.
Email: chojnac@uakron.edu

Library Home Page

• Ask a Librarian - e-mail or instant message a librarian.
  
  
• Article Indexes and Databases - Using an index is an excellent way to find journal articles on a specific topic. You can use this link to access databases like Cinahl Plus with Full Text and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition.
  
  
• Connect to Online Resources from Home (Off-Campus) - This link does not work for Vista. There is software that must be installed to establish the VPN using Vista (instructions). Be sure to read the entire WIKI including when the Cisco Client will not work.
  
  If you cannot connect using the VPN and you want to connect to Cinahl from Off-Campus, you can use OhioLINK Authentication. You can use OhioLINK Authentication for Cinahl because Cinahl is an OhioLINK Resource. If you use OhioLINK Authentication when you are performing this tutorial, please see the link in the Online Databases section.
  
  
• Renew Library Materials & View Your Library Record - All library notices are sent to your uakron.edu email account. Check this email account often or forward it to another email account.
  
  
• Resources by Subject - Click on Nursing to get help with finding resources for nursing (Article Databases, web sites, style guides, etc.).

Finding Background Information

• Background information provides an overview of your topic -

  A Subject Encyclopedia is a good place to begin. It focuses on a particular discipline. The following are some examples of nursing encyclopedias that we have in the Science and Technology Library Reference Collection:

  • The Gale encyclopedia of medicine / Science Reference RC41 .G35 1999
  • The Gale encyclopedia of alternative medicine / Science Reference R733 .G34 2001
  • The Gale encyclopedia of nursing & allied health / Science Reference RT21 .G353 2006
  • Encyclopedia of nursing research / Science Reference RT81.5 .E53 2006

Catalogs

• A Library Catalog contains a list of materials owned by the library including -
  
  
  • Books
  • Periodicals (called "periodicals" since they are published over a period of time. Examples: newspapers, magazines, professional journals). Periodicals may be in bound form on the shelves (they look like books), unbound in the "Current Periodicals Room" (across from the circulation desk), or in electronic form (link to it online).
  • Government Documents
  • Electronic Resources

  A library catalog does NOT LIST ARTICLES found in periodicals (journals or magazines). You must find the title of the periodical, and check to see if we have a subscription to the journal at the time the article was published.

  • University of Akron's (UA)Libraries Catalog (ZipLINK). This is the first catalog to search when looking for materials.
  • OhioLINK Central Catalog: a statewide library and information network which allows sharing of library resources among dozens of Ohio colleges and universities. This is the second catalog to search when the University of Akron's (UA) Libraries Catalog does not have what you need. You can request available materials online through OhioLINK and pick them up in about 3 to 5 working days.
  
  
  
  • Search UA Libraries Catalog by Title, Author, Author/Title, Subject, Keyword (Word), and others such as call number.
    
    
    • Subject Searching: finds materials about a particular topic. They are usually based on subject headings that are standard terms assigned by indexers, librarians, or authors.
    
    
    
    • Keyword Searching: allows you to search anywhere in the catalog's list of records for the words you enter. It will search titles, authors, subject headings, and more.
    
    
    
    • Boolean Searching
      
      
      • "And" narrows your search results since all terms must describe the results: obesity and "heart disease"
      • "Or" broadens your search since either term may describe the results: obesity or "heart disease"
      
      
      
      • See Another Example
      
      
      To understand the difference between Keyword (WORD) and Subject searching enter:
      
      
      • Human Anatomy as a WORD search
      
      Type "Human Anatomy" with the quotes
      
      See the
      • Title List
      • Number of Records Found (over 400)
      
      Type Human Anatomy without the quotes
      
      See the
      • Title List
      • Number of Records Found (over 800)
      
      NOTE - Searching exact phrases in a WORD search:
      
      
      • If you put quotes around the phrase (i.e. "Human Anatomy"), it searches on the exact phrase. However, it does not use relevancy ranking.
      • If you do not put quotes around the phrase (i.e. Human Anatomy), the system will use relevancy ranking. However, the record does not have to contain the exact phrase to be part of the result set. When sorting by relevancy, records that contain the exact phrase will be higher on the list than those that do not.
      
      See the
      • Links from Title to Full Record
      • Subjects in Full Record
      
      
      • Human Anatomy as a SUBJECT search
      
      See the
      • Title List (2 subjects related to Human Anatomy, as well as 35 subjects that contain the phrase)
      • Number of Records Found by clicking on Human Anatomy:(Over 180. It finds only records whose Subject Heading is Human Anatomy)
    
    OhioLINK can be searched the same way.
  
  
  
  • Interlibrary Loan (named ILLiad): Use when neither ZipLINK or OhioLINK have the materials you need. Use online order form. You will always use interlibrary loan to get journal articles not available at the University of Akron. Length of time to obtain materials varies depending on availability of material and the institution providing it.

Online Databases

• Note: Be sure that you are using the Advanced Search tab
  
  
• CINAHL Plus with Full Text - [click here]
  
  This database covers virtually every nursing journal published.
  
  Your assignment is to find an article about an area of nursing that you are interested in.
  
  
  1. It should be written by an R.N. (At least one of the authors).
     
     
  2. It does not have to be a "research article,"(i.e. one where the author conducts research and has a long bibliography), but it needs to be in a Scholarly Nursing Journal in the last 5 years.
     
     
  3. The journals Nursing Times, R.N., and Imprint are not recommended and should not be used.
  
  Luckily, the CINAHL database can help you with all of these specifications.
  
  Search for references by:
  
  
  1. selecting the CINAHL Headings tab at the top of the page and
     
     
  2. by entering the topic in the search box.
  
  These subject terms describe individual concepts. They are the words that the database recognizes for certain concepts. For example, CINAHL does not recognize the word "cancer." It uses "neoplasm" for that term. Remember this if you get no results from the search terms you are using!
  
  Example: Find a recent article about nursing as a career choice.(Let's use "Pediatric Nursing" as an example):
  
  ** If you are using OhioLINK Authentication to connect to Cinahl, please click here.**
  
  - After clicking on the CINAHL Headings tab (green menu), enter "Pediatric Nursing" into the search box
  
  - Click on Browse
  
  - Click on "Pediatric Nursing"
  
  - Another page displays that shows Tree Views: a list of topics related to "Pediatric Nursing."
  
  - It also lists Qualify Subheadings that can be added to your search. Do not check any at this time.
  
  - Click on the checkbox beside "Pediatric Nursing" if it is not checked and click on the Search Database button
  
  - View Title List - too many titles
  
  - Click Refine Search tab
  
  - Publication Year: 2003 to 2008
  
  - Peer Reviewed: Check
  
  - Journal Subset: Highlight "Nursing"
  
  - Publication Type: Highlight "Journal Article"
  
  - Language: Highlight "English"
  
  - Click Search - Still too many titles.
  
  - Add "Role" to second search box to find articles that relate to the role of the pediatric nurse.
  
  - Third Search box, use the "Not" drop down for "Not" (Nursing Times or RN or Imprint), and use dropdown "Journal Title" so you do not get articles from these journals.
  
  - Click Search. This results in a more manageable number of titles that you can browse through.
  
  - See the record titled "Pulsebeats."
  
  - Click the Find it button
  
  - A window pops up giving you the information that our library does NOT have a current subscription to the journal. The library has v.4:2(1987)-20(2003) and we need v. 23:1 (2006). You can order this article through Interlibrary Loan.
  
  - See "Society news. Position statement on the role of the pediatric nurse working with sexually active teens, pregnant adolescents, and young parents."
  
  - Click the Find it button
  
  - A window pops up telling you that you can "View full text of this article in the EJC" - Click on that link to get online copy of the article.
  
  - See "Breaking bad news to parents: the children's nurse's role"
  
  - Click on PDF Full Text which leads to a link for the PDF of the article.
  
  - See the record titled "Health care advocate. Near-term, but still a preemie: speaking up for infants born a little too early"
  
  - Click the Find it button
  
  - A window pops up giving you the information that our library has a subscription to the journal at the Science Library for the year of this article's publication, 2005. So we can find the journal in the bound journal section of our Science library.
  
  - See the record titled "Guest editorial. Milk depots, yarn trusses, and pediatric nurses."
  
  - This is an example of an article you do NOT want to use since it is an editorial.



• Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition - [click here]
  
  This database has an emphasis on nursing and allied health. Access to many full text journals as well as indexing and abstracts for over 600 journals
  
  Example: Find a recent example about nursing as a career choice:
  
  Again, let's use "Pediatric Nursing" as an example
  
  **If using OhioLINK Authentication, use the Alternate URL (see page for Health Source). The search interface looks the same, so follow the tutorial below.**
  
  - Enter search term "Pediatric Nursing" in search box
  
  - Limit to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals by checking the box
  
  - Limit to articles published since 2003
  
  - Click Search
  
  - Results: Too many titles
  
  - Need to NARROW the search
  
  - Type "Role" in second search box
  
  - Click Search
  
  - Results in a manageable number of titles to search
  
  - See, "Innovative Pediatric Nursing Role: Public Health Nurses in Child Welfare."
  
  - Click on PDF Full Text and view the article.
  
  - Note that the author is a RN and in addition, she holds an advanced degree.
  
  - See, "An Integrative Research Review: Effective School-Based Childhood Overweight Interventions."
  
  - Click on PDF Full Text and view the article.
  
  - Note that the authors are RNs and have PhD degrees
  
  - See the BIBLIOGRAPHY at the end of the article
  
  - This will help you find MORE articles.
  
  - There are many more examples of excellent full text articles.

Online Journal Resources

• EJC -  (Electronic Journal Center): Provides full text articles online

Tutorials & Guides

• There are many tutorials and guides available on the library website - as well as tutorials for individual databases on the Article Indexes and Databases web pages and the subject page for Nursing.
  
  
• Please evaluate this orientation/tutorial. - Any feedback that you could give me on this tutorial would be greatly appreciated.
  
  If you are getting a blank page and you are using Internet Explorer 6, try pressing the control key and F5 simultaneously. This should force the Web Page to update in your browser window.
  
  If you cannot access the wiki via the link above and you have Firefox, please use this URL

  http://ul.uakron.edu/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:Introduction_to_Nursing

  in Firefox.

Style Guides

• College of Nursing APA Guidelines - - The University of Akron College of Nursing APA Style Guide
• APA Documentation - The Writing Center at The University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Choose Create APA parenthetical citations if you want to cite a source inside the document
  • Choose Create an APA reference list if you want to create works cited list
• APA Style Electronic References -
  • APA Style Electronic Sources - Trinity University
• APA Style Resources - Updated, 5th Edition.
  • Includes: APA Style - U of Southern Mississippi
• Color-Coded APA Guide