RN-to-BSN Program: Library Instruction - January 2025
Welcome to the resource page for finding library resources related to nursing research.
Over the coming weeks, you will meet online with the library instructor, Jonathan Lehtonen, who will guide you through the resources on this page and explain techniques for finding what you need.
Two Tutorial Videos:
Please watch these two short videos before meeting with your library instructor.
Advanced Search with Boolean Operators
Boolean operators can be used to narrow or broaden your search results. Type these operators in ALL CAPS. This style of searching is standardized and should work as expected in any database, whether it is CU Search or Google Scholar.
Exact Phrase Searching
Enclose phrases in quotation marks to find items that include the exact phrase. Enter in the search box: "nurse practitioner"
When you put these words in quotation marks, the results must contain the phrase "nurse practitioner" in this exact word order. If a source only mentions nurse and the word practitioner separately, then it will not be included.
Nesting Your Search Terms
Use parentheses to place search words into sets. Words in parentheses are processed first. Combine sets with Boolean operators. The following will include search results about dog nutrition and cat nutrition simultaneously.
Enter in the search box: nutrition AND (dogs OR cats)
Combining Strategies:
Try making advanced searches with various strategies at once. The following search requires all results to be about either wound care and diabetes or wound care and blood sugar more generally. Both topics will be included.
Top Databases for Nursing Research
CINAHL - Database the school pays for. Thousands of articles related to the nursing field
MEDLINE - Database the school pays for. Part of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE provides information on medicine, nursing, health care systems, and more from thousands of current medical journals.
PubMed - Free: no login is necessary. National Library of Medicine collection - all medical fields.
Google Scholar - Free: no login necessary. Click the link to learn about special tips for finding quality articles in Google Scholar. One of the best features in Google Scholar is the ability to filter for only review articles, which are often very practical and are intended to bring together the findings of all the best research articles on a topic.
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection - Database the school pays for. Comprehensive Behavioral Science database offering full-text publications back as far as 1965.
Academic Search Complete - Database the school pays for. If you have a topic that is a little bit outside of the nursing field or you can't find what you want in the databases above, try this one.
What should I do if I can't access/download an article?
You can email a librarian, such as Jonathan Lehtonen, or you can try the strategies below. Since we do not own access to all articles in the world, and because sometimes technical issues occur, here are three strategies to try to access an article that is somehow blocked.
Strategy 1: Copy and paste the title and search for it in PubMed (the database of the National Library of Medicine).
Strategy 2: Copy and paste the title and search for it in Google Scholar, which provides links to a very comprehensive collection of sources. Click here to read more tips about how to use Google Scholar.
Strategy 3: Copy and paste the title and search for it in CU Search but make sure to click the option to view sources in "Libraries Worldwide" or "Other Libraries." If you find the item listed at another library, click the title and then click "Request Item through InterLibrary Loan." For more details about how this works, please watch the following video:
APA Citation Information
Check out the following library guides to learn more about APA and avoiding plagiarism.
APA Citation and Google Scholar Tips
Nursing students are recommended to watch the first 15 minutes of this video to learn about how to set up a list of references in APA style and also get the most benefit out of Google Scholar.
Library Instruction Evaluation Survey
After meeting with the instructor online, please click here to fill out an evaluation form, where you can also post questions for the instructor to answer by email. Your participation is much appreciated!