This guide is designed for:
First Year Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) students

It will cover four types of research tools:

• Catalog
• eBooks
• Databases
• Web Sites

How to get there:

From the NOVA Libraries site, click on Books & More (middle of the page).

Things to know about the catalog:

• It's used for finding books, DVDs, and videos in the seven NOVA libraries.
  
  
• You can search all seven NOVA libraries at once, or limit to one campus.
  
  
  
  
• You can do several kinds of searches in the catalog, including Subject (LC) and Keywords Anywhere.
  
  
  

Subject (LC) Searching: This is the most precise kind of search. It is based on specific words that have been assigned to topics by librarians. Do this search when you have a general topic and you know (or can easily guess) the subject heading.

Example: the official subject heading for "heart attack" is Myocardial Infarction.

Keywords Anywhere Searching: Do this kind of search when you don't know the specific words that have been assigned to your topic, or when you want to search a combination of topics.

Take your research question and break it down into the most important words and phrases, and use AND in between.

 

The NOVA libraries subscribe to a number of e-book (electronic books) collections, several of which support nursing.

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, move your mouse over the box in the middle of the page that says Books & More to reveal more choices.
   
   
2. In the expanded Books & More window, click on E-books.

You should see a menu that looks like this:

Things to know about eBooks:

• eBooks are electronic versions of printed books.

• You do not need to "check out" our eBooks. You can access them as long as you have an Internet connection and are a student at NOVA. If off-campus, log in using your NovaConnect username and password.

• Each eBook collection has different books. You can read the eBooks from cover to cover, view just selected chapters, or do a keyword search to find the pages that contain the information you need.

• Most collections will allow you to bookmark and print or email certain sections, but in limited quantities. Copyright restrictions do apply.
  

R2 Library and Stat!Ref have over 80 core titles in nursing and allied health. See also Gale Virtual Reference Library for medical encyclopedias and dictionaries.

• Databases are the best tools for finding articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers.
  
• Some of our databases also have e-books.
  
• Databases are very expensive, but NOVA students, faculty, and staff can use them for FREE.
  
  
• Using databases from off-campus:
  Because they are expensive, the databases are only for NOVA students and staff. You must enter a user ID and password to use databases from off-campus (it should be the same ID and password that you use to access myNova.

Database to try:

1) Academic Search Complete

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, mouse over Articles (middle of the page) and select More to access a list of all databases.

2. On the next screen, scroll down to the section titled Subject-Specific Databases and click on Allied Health and Nursing.

3. Select CINAHL (Cummulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature)

 

Do a search!

1. Let's save time by searching several Ebsco databases at once. To add more databases, click on Choose Databases at the top of the screen:

2. CINAHL should already be selected. Add the following databases by placing checkmarks in the appropriate boxes:MEDLINE, Academic Search Complete, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition (we will also learn another way to search MEDLINE). Click OK.

3. Search strategies: Different databases have prefered subject terms for various topic. In this case, we are searching four databases at once, so we need to consider the subject headings used by each one.

MEDLINE and CINAHL use the term "ultrasonography", but Academic Search Complete and HealthSource use the term "ultrasonic imaging., "ultrasonic imaging" is the prefered. You can cover both terms by selecting SU Subject Terms from the drop-down menu, and typing ultrasonography OR ultrasonic imaging into the search box. This tells the database to look for articles that use either one.

For example:

You can narrow your search by adding another word to the second search box. For example, if you are interested in articles on abdominal sonography, you could add abdomen as your second search term (see picture above).

4. Note that there are many ways to limit your search. Scroll down the page to see the options listed under Search Options, including the option to limit your search to Peer Reviewed journal articles:

 

5. Click on Search to get your results list.

If an article is available in this database in full text, there will be a link to it below the citation on the results list. If full text is not available, you can use the LincIt tool to see if the full text is available in a different NOVA database:

What else can you do if the article you want is not available in full text?

Database to try:

1) MEDLINE (PubMed)

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, click on Articles (middle of the page).
   
   
2. Scroll down to Health & Medicine and click on Allied Health & Nursing . You will see a list of databases that are useful for finding articles on Nursing and Allied Health.
   
   
3. Select the database called Medline (PubMed).

Do a search!

Medline uses MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), which are created and maintained by the National Library of Medicine. Using MeSH, rather than keywords, can help you do a more precise search. Select MeSH Database from the left sidebar to find the MeSH subject headings for your topic.

 

1. To find articles with a focus on ultrasonic imaging, let's find the Medical Subject Heading for that term first. Type ultrasonic imaging into the search box, then click Go.

2. You'll see several choices on the next screen. The MeSH database is trying to figure out which MeSH you really want. Read the descriptions to see if one of the choices accurately respresents your topic. In this case, Ultrasonography is the official Medical Subject Heading for ultrasonic imaging. Place a checkmark next to Ultrasonography, then use the drop-down menu at the top to select Send to Search Box with AND.

3. After Ultrasonography is added to the search box, you can search for and add additional Medical Subject Headings. Type polycystic kidney disease into the search box at the top of the screen and click Go:

4. On the next screen, place a checkmark next to the first option for Polycystic Kidney Diseases, then use the drop-down menu to select Send to Search Box with AND. Your search has become Ultrasonography AND Polycystic Kidney Diseases.

5. Now repeat the steps to search for the Medical Subject Heading Fetus. Add "Fetus" to the search box. Your search has become Ultrasonography AND Polycystic Kidney Diseases AND Fetus:

6. Click on Search PubMed.

7. When you get the list of results, click on the title of the article to see an abstract (if none is available, just the citation will display). Sometimes a link to the full text of the article is provided to the right of the abstract/citation. If not, use the previous instructions to see if the full text is available in a different database.

Medline (PubMed) does not have a large percentage of full-text articles, but it is still a very useful finding tool.

• There are lots of good web sites out there, but also lots of junk.
  
• Make sure you're using a quality site (who created it? Why? How old is it? Can the source be trusted?)
  
• Use Best of the Web to help find quality sites:
  

1. From the NOVA Libraries home page, click on Web Sites (middle of the page)
   
   
2. Select Best of the Web (at top)
   
   
3. Select Nursing and Allied Health.
   
   
4. Explore these categories:
   
   • Diagnostic Imaging
   • Core Resources

 

last updated June 2009. Comments to Beth DeAngelo.