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finding NURSING INFORMATION: decide what kind of information you need
types of nursing information start with a
good topic decide what kind of information you
need search for journal
articles search for books
search
for statistics evaluating search results
getting full-text journal title abbreviations citing
sources getting citations automatically via
e-mail
Do you
need general or specific information?
Oftentimes faculty will specify whether to use books or journal articles for assignments. If they do not, then you need to think about whether your research question could be best answered using general or specific information. General or background information is most commonly found in books or other secondary and tertiary sources. Some quality websites can even be used to answer general questions. Alternately, research questions about specific topics are best answered using journal articles, which are usually primary sources.
These are a few general research questions you could easily answer using books and other secondary and tertiary sources:
- What is diabetes?
- What is the current treatment for epilepsy?
- What is socialized medicine all about?
- What are racial and ethnic differences in health in late life
- What is the history of nurses in the military?
If you need information about a specific topic or if you need information about a general topic but couldn't find a book to suit your needs, then you will want to look journal articles.
These are a few specific research questions you could answer using journal articles:
- Are there any smoking cessasion programs designed for pregnant women?
- What factors predict condom use among sexually active teens?
- What is the lived experience of people who have terminal cancer
Where
to look for information
| category | type of material | where to look | what it's called |
| general | books in the UConn Libraries | the UConn library catalog | HOMER |
| specific | nursing journal articles | database of nursing journals | CINAHL |
| specific | biomedical journal articles | database of biomedical journals | PubMed |
| specific | other types of journal articles | find an appropriate database | nursing databases page |
Test your ability to identify the source
you need.
for help finding nursing information, contact: Valori.Banfi@uconn.edu
to comment on this tutorial, contact: Jill.Livingston@uconn.edu