NURS 642

Welcome to the Library Guide for NURS 642!  

Please click the tabs across the top to navigate different topics in this Guide.

You can also find links to Library Resources in Blackboard in the left navigation column of all Nursing courses.

Click the Need Help? tab above for assistance with any research questions!  

Objectives for NURS 642 Students

Students will be able to:

1. Compare and contrast different types of information resources.

2. Select the most appropriate information sources for given need (see resources below).

3. Use high-quality information sources for your class assignments, and cite them appropriately.

• Background Information:

1. Clinical / EBP Point of Care​
   1. APA citation of the electronic database Up to Date; see the APA style blog
   2. APA style for electronic resources; see the Purdue Online Writing Lab
2. Patient Education 

• Biomedical research literature / "Evidence":

1. Google / Scholar (APA citations)
2. PubMed (Tools to expand or narrow your search - filters, fields, full text)
3. See right column for additional databases / tutorials

PubMed​ Search / PubMed for Nurses Tutorial

• PubMed (from the National Library of Medicine) comprises more than 27 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.
• When you search PubMed, you are searching citation information and abstracts only.
• You can create a free account (myNCBI) to save your search strategies and result collections.
  • Click "Create Alert" at the top of the search screen to save your strategy.
  • Click "Send to" at the upper right of your result list to save chosen results to a myNCBI Collection or Citation manager (like RefWorks).
• Please note, the link above or the PubMed link from the Health Sciences Library Quick Links must be used to see the "Owned by Upstate?" link for the full text of articles, unless you see "Free full text" with the citation.

Cochrane Search / How to use the Cochrane Library

• The Cochrane Library is a collection of six databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making, and a seventh database that provides information about Cochrane groups.
• Cochrane Systematic Reviews are indexed in PubMed, searching the Cochrane Library adds the other databases, for example the CENTRAL Clinical Trials database.
• Enter your Upstate email to open the Tutorial video.

CINAHL Search / CINAHL Advanced Searching Tutorial

• CINAHL Plus with Full Text is the core research tool for all areas of nursing and allied health literature.
• Click the box near "Suggest Subject Terms" (above the search fields) to find relevant CINAHL Headings.
• You can create a free CINAHL account to save searches and results.
  • Look for the option to "Save Searches / Alerts" to save strategies.
  • Send chosen citations to your folder, then go to Folder View to "Export" to a citation manager, email or save results.

Google Scholar Search / Google Scholar Search Tips

• Google Scholar offers a search of scholarly resources in all academic disciplines.
• You are searching full text rather than abstracts.  
• There are no medical subject headings or evidence-based filters to narrow your search.
• Use Scholar if you are not finding much and want to expand your scope.
• There is a helpful Advanced Search feature.
• Scholar settings can be edited to add a link to export citations to RefWorks or find Full Text at Upstate.
• Click the quotation marks under a title to find the APA style citation.