Searching Made Easier &
More Effective
Practical Nursing 2014
Karen Hutchens
& Debbie O’Rielly
Goals
At the end of the session, students should be able to:
 Identify Search Terms
 Put together a search statement
 Know how to use CINAHL
 CINAHL headings, limits, print/save
 Evaluate search results
Steps to Searching
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
7.
8.
Develop a Search Question
Picking out search terms/concepts
Come up with synonyms; alternate spellings
Write a search statement using CINAHL headings
Setting search limits
Looking at & evaluating articles
Save/print articles or alter search strategy (go back to
step 2 or 3)



Check search terms
Check spelling
Search too narrow or too broad
Search Question
Purpose of Search Question
 To determine what you want to know
 To help identify search terms or concepts
Search Question
Scenario:
Your instructor is planning a discussion in class on how
to prevent falls in the elderly living in a seniors home.
She asks each student to find good current nursing
articles on the subject for class.
Search Questions
What current information is available about fall
prevention in a seniors home?
Search Terms
Key Term 1
Falls
OR
preventing falls
OR
safety
Key Term 2
elderly
OR
older adults
OR
seniors
OR
aged
Key Term 3
Seniors home
OR
Old age home
OR
long term care
OR
nursing homes
Other Useful Tools
( ) brackets keep similar terms/concepts together
(elderly OR aged OR seniors)
“ ” parentheses used for phrases ONLY
“nursing homes” “assisted suicide” “pediatric nurse”
* Truncation can be substituted for any number of letters
teen* = teen, teens, teenager, teenager
nurs* = nurse, nursing, nurses, nurse’s
Search Statement
 Link together main search terms and their synonyms
and alternative spellings using Boolean terms
AND OR
 Use this statement for database search
Search Statement
Example:
“nursing home” OR “long term care”
AND
“accidental falls”
AND
prevention
AND
nurs*
(SO Publication Name)
Popular vs. Scholarly
 Specific, in-depth articles
 Original research, new
developments in field
 Written and intended for
specialists, students
 Peer-reviewed
 Standard format
 Tables, graphs, text
 Continuous pagination
 Broad, shorter articles
 Overview, social issues,
public opinion
 Staff, freelance, popular
language
 In-house
 Few references
 Attract, advertising,
entertain
 Each issue page 1
CINAHL
To access CINAHL, go to this site:
http://www.library.mun.ca
Make the following selections to get to CINAHL
1.Choose Articles tab
2. To Find articles on any topic, use article search
3. Indexes by Subjects, select nursing
4. CINAHL with full text
CINAHL Headings
Once in CINAHL, always go to CINAHL Headings first
to check your search terms.
 If CINAHL heading suggest other terms to use, write
them down
 Click on New Search, and enter your search terms
Search limits
 Year: last 5 years
 English language
 There are articles in CINAHL in other languages. At the
end of the article title you will see [language]. Even
though the abstract is in English, the article will be in the
language indicated in the [ ].
Search Limits
Sample of a citation whose article is written in another
language:
Facing, accepting, growing and expecting: the
practical experience of nursing students during
their first clinical practice [Chinese]. (includes
abstract); Sun, Jia-Jing; Sun, Hui-Lin; Journal of
Nursing, 2011 Apr; 58 (2): 49-56 (journal article)
ISSN: 0047-262X PMID: 21455892 CINAHL AN:
2011035176
Citation
ARTICLE TITLE
AUTHOR(S)
JOURNAL TITLE
Nursing children and adolescents with bipolar disorder: assessment,
diagnosis, treatment, and management. Preview (includes
abstract); McDougall T; Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric
Nursing, 2009 Feb; 22 (1): 33-9 (journal article) ISSN: 1073-6077
PMID: 19200290 CINAHL AN: 2010188996
YEAR
MONTH
VOLUME
ISSUE
PAGE NUMBERS
Evaluate Articles
Does the article answer your search question?
If you answered no to this question, then you need to:
Check your search terms
Check your spelling
Check the scope of search
 Too specific?
 Too broad?
If you answered yes
to the questions on the previous slide,
Congrats! You’re done with the searching portion of
your paper.
Need Extra Help?
No problem!
Come see
Karen Hutchens
Library
OR
Debbie O’Reilly
Computer Lab