NURS 265/275 - Essentials of Professional Nursing Practice I

Finding research materials to complete assignments for nursing can sometimes be difficult, but nursing students are smart, intelligent people, and are up to the challenge!

Follow each step below and use the instructions and resources on this page to help you find materials to complete your research assignments. View all five steps then review the sample search at the bottom of the page. 

Read the rubric for your assignment(s) so you know what type of research you are expected to find for your particular assignment(s).

This is very important! When you are searching any database from the Halle Library, e.g., CINAHL, DO NOT CHECK the Link to full text boxes ever. Doing this inhibits the Find Text+ icon from accessing all of the full text materials that are available.

To see if or how the Halle Library owns a journal, use the green FindText+  icon. It looks like this   or  

=Access Options . Instructions for doing this can be found here: https://guides.emich.edu/c.php?g=645370&p=5248329

Read the materials and watch the videos linked below in the exact order in which they are listed. Each one explains a skill or a piece of information that will guide you to the next step and help you complete the assignment.  

Videos to Watch and Materials to Read

 

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fneNfSZKos&list=PL68AF067ABDBDFA5D&index=25

Verifying Peer Review in Ulrich's Global Serial Directory - https://guides.emich.edu/ld.php?content_id=42662440 

5) CINAHL - Reading CINAHL Citation - - https://www.emich.edu/library/help/tutorials/assets/cinahl_citation.html

What Types of Articles to Eliminate

Most professors do not allow any type of review article to be included in the assignments for this course. When you are reviewing the results of your search, exclude the following type of articles:

Types of Articles to Eliminate

Any type of review article that is tagged in the Publication Type field as:

•Systematic review

•Meta-analysis

•Meta-synthesis

•Scoping review/study

•Integrative review

Look at the topics from the table below. Evaluate which keyword or phrase from the table below most closely matches your research topic, then carefully select your keywords. Some of these keywords & phrases are more specific than others. Remember, the terms below are just a few ideas. You can always type in your own keywords.

In CINAHL, it is sometimes possible to locate more specific terms by searching the CINAHL Headings. This is done by logging into CINAHL, clicking on the CINAHL Headings link located under the third search box.

Here is a short video that explains how to do this optional activity: https://guides.emich.edu/c.php?g=653525&p=5516023&preview=5ef4d05ab8949abfaaf109e4c93573e9

CINAHL Keywords or Search Terms Commonly Used for Nursing Research Topics

Topic:

In this imaginary assignment, the topic I’m interested in researching centers around patient safety and how many patients are assigned to each nurse on a given shift.

Step #1 – I look over the keywords and phrases from the table above and decide that “nurse patient ratio” and “patient safety” most closely capture my topic. So, I copy and paste the search into the CINAHL search boxes. (By the way, it doesn’t matter which keyword or phrase is placed in which search box. Each box is treated equally.)

Search box: “nurse patient ratio”

Search box: “patient safety”

Step #2

I have read my assignment’s rubric, so I know I have to select a research-based/empirical article from a peer reviewed journal from the last 7 years, and I only read and speak the English language. So, I scroll down the main search page and under the Filters section, I:

Check the box in front of:

• English Language (unless I’m fluent in another language)

• Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) journals
• Research Article

• In the Published Date area, I check the radio button for Past 10 years