Nursing

Research is a process

Make sure you understand your assignment and start your research early.  Do not wait till the last minute.

The research process includes the following:

• Choose your topic: pick one that interests you and fits your assignment
• Assess the type of information you need:  Do you need books, articles from databases, websites?
• Find the information: Don't just stick with Google and the internet.  Explore the library online resources. They will give you access to thousands of books and articles from newspapers, magazines and professional journals.
• Evaluate the information and make sure they are trustworthy
• Cite your sources

Search Strategies

Example topic: In infants, how does acetaminophen compare to ibuprofen in reducing fever?

Search using Keywords: infants, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, fever

Sometimes the keywords from your original topic sentence will not produce the types of results you want. When that happens, try to think of related keywords. These can be other words that have similar meanings, words that are broader (good for when you have too few results), or words that are more specific (good for when you have too many results).

Example related keywords:

Similar: babies, high temperature
Broader: children, analgesics, antiinflammatory agents
Narrower: newborns, Advil, Tylenol, fever reduction

Phrase Searching

To find an exact phrase (i.e., words in a row in an exact order), enclose the phrase in quotation marks.

Examples:

• "fever reduction"
• "antiinflammatory agents"

Truncation

Truncation (shortening your keyword) makes the database look at other possible forms of a word for which you are searching. Use truncation to find plurals and variations on the endings of a word. To truncate, use the asterisk symbol: *. You can enter this symbol by pressing Shift and 8 on the keyboard at the same time or by pressing the asterisk symbol on the number pad.

Examples:

• You want to find the following terms:
  child, children
  Use child*

• You want to find the following terms:
  temperature, temperatures
  Use temperature*

• You want to find the following terms:
  reduce, reducing, reduction
  Use reduc*

Using AND

Combine keywords by putting the word AND between them. This requires that both keywords be present in the database's search results. Entries that include keywords connected by AND are referred to as search statements.

Example Search Statements using AND:

• infant* AND "fever reduction" AND acetaminophen
• infant* AND fever* and reduc* AND analgesics

Note: If you use the Advanced Search feature of a database, AND is the default connector between the entry boxes.

Using OR

In cases where two keywords are equally good, and you don't need to have both of them, you can connect them using OR. This will require that only one of the two keywords be present in the results. To make sure these are not mixed up with any uses of AND in a search statement, enclose uses of OR in parentheses.

Example Search Statements Using OR:

• infant* AND "fever reduction" AND (acetaminophen OR ibuprofen)
• infant* AND "antiinflammatory agents" AND (fever OR "high temperature")

Source:Santa Fe College