This library skills exercise is designed by the MEC Library for:
Nursing Students

It will cover four types of research tools:

• Catalog
• eBooks
• Databases
• Web Sites

How to get there:

1. 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 Subject) and Keyword (Anywhere).

Subject (LC Subject) 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:

Research Question: How many books/DVDs do the NOVA libraries have on EKGs?

Hint: EKGs is a single, general topic. Try a Subject (LC) search, using the official subject heading for EKG.

Your search can be: Electrocardiography

 

Keyword (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.

Example:

Research Question: How does asthma impact children?

Hint: You are combining two topics: asthma and children. Try a Keywords (Anywhere) search.

Your search can be: asthma AND children.

You should get a list of results that looks like this:

Remember: You have access to books at all 6 campuses! If you see something at another campus that you want, click on the link for that campus (in the Campus column- see above) and log in using your myNOVA username & password. Be sure to select the campus at which you want to pick up the book.

 

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, click on the box in the middle of the page that says eBooks & eVideos. Scroll down to Health, Nursing, and Medicine.
   
   

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, Stat!Ref, and Net Library have over 700 core titles in nursing and allied health. See also Gale Virtual Reference Library for medical encyclopedias and dictionaries.

For this part of the exercise you'll use two databases to search for journal articles.

Things to know about Databases:

• Databases are the best tools for finding articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers.
  
• 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:

Health Reference Center Academic

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, click on Articles & More (middle of the page).
   
   
2. Scroll down until you see Subject Specific Databases. Under Health & Medicine, 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 Health Reference Center Academic.

Do a search!

Let's say you're interested in finding information on educating patients about stroke.

1. Be sure to select Advanced Search (see picture below).

2. Let's say you want information on patient education for stroke patients. This is one search you could try: stroke AND "patient education"

Note that you can limit your results to full-text (complete) articles, peer-reviewed journal articles, etc. by using the options under Limit Results.

3. Click Search. You should get a list of articles that looks something like this:

Whenever you see the words “Full-text” or “Full-text with graphics” (see above), this means that the complete article is available in the database.  Just click on the article title or the words “Full-text” to read it. If you see "Abstract" (see above) or "Citation", the full-text is not available in this particular database. See box below for what to do when full-text is not available.

• Note that the results are organized by tabs. For the search we just did, we retrieved articles from academic journals, magazines, and "books" (which may be information from books or pamphlets).

To print, email, or save articles, or to get assistance with creating a citation for an article, go to the Tools box on the right (this box appears once you have selected an article).

Let's do another search!

Let's say you are interested in finding articles on ethics in nursing, but you're not sure which aspect of nursing ethics you want to study.

1. Click on Subject Guide Search at the top of the screen (see picture below)

2. Type nursing ethics into the search box.

Click the search button. You should get a page that looks like this:

3. You can see that there are over 460 articles on the topic of Nursing Ethics. To break that group down into smaller categories, click on the small plus sign to the left of Subdivisions (see above). You should see a list that looks like this:

4. Choose Analysis. How many articles are there?

5. Look at the first article that has full text available. Look at the retrieval options. You can also mark the item to retrieve later.

Database to try:

CINAHL

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, click on Articles & More (middle of the page).
   
2. Scroll down until you see Subject Specific Databases. Under Health & Medicine, 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 CINAHL.

Do a search!

Let's say you're interested in finding information on heart attacks

1. Type heart attack in the search box. Check the box next to Suggest Subject Terms (see below) to get assistance in locating the best subject heading for "heart attacks".

(Note that there are many ways to limit your search, included by full-text availability and publication date)

2. Click Search.  You should get a screen that looks like this:

The database tells us to use Myocardial Infarction instead of "heart attack".

3. To use Myocardial Infarction as your search term, put a check in the box next to it (see above). After you place a check in the box, a blue box of subheadings for myocardial infarction will appear to the right. You can narrow/restrict your search by selecting one or more of the subheadings. If you don't select any subheadings, CINAHL will automatically search all of them.

4. Click the green Search Database button, on the right-hand side.

You should get a list of articles that looks similar to this one:

If it says PDF Full Text or HTML Full Text under that citation for the article, the full-text of the article is available in CINAHL. If full-text is not available, use the previous instructions (including the LincIt option, pictured above) for finding full-text articles in a different database.

(Web resources for nursing students)

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries webpage, click on Research Tools (on left-hand menu)
   
2. Choose Best of the Web.
   
3. Choose Nursing and Allied Health.

The categories of Nursing, Core Resources, Pharmacy and Drug Resources, and Emergency Medicine all have relevant links:

Search A:

1. Choose Core Resources, then click on Reference.

2. Scroll down to Encyclopedias and click on Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine (Note: you must log in to use this from off campus)

3. Click on D and scroll down to Diabetes Mellitus.

Search B:

1. Choose Core Resources, then click on Biomedical Links.

2. Choose CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

3. In the middle of the page, note the Data & Statistics link.

4. Use the search box at the top right of the page or the A to Z Index to search your topic.

5. Choose XDR Tuberculosis. What kinds of results do you get?

Search C:

1. Choose Core Resources, then click on Biomedical Links.

2. Click on MedlinePlus.

©Copyright Northern Virginia Community College. Last updated June 18, 2010. Comments to Beth DeAngelo.