NURS 2011/HSCI 2001 (SJ/SJ) Guide Ask Us

This interactive content will help you work through the research process and complete your class assignments. You'll first learn how to choose a researchable paper topic and narrow it down, find background sources to help guide your writing and future database searching, and think about how to turn your topic into searchable keywords. Then you'll learn about how to find and identify scholarly sources for your paper using Library databases. Information on citing sources is also available.

This content is a modified version of various Portland Community College Library's tutorials (Finding Sources for Your Reading or Writing Assignment, Finding Articles in the Social Sciences, Biology 101 Library Assignment). Changes were made to examples, sections were deleted, and videos were added.  This work by PCC Library is licensed by Portland Community College under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 This work by UNB Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How do I get help if I need it?

The research process and searching for scholarly sources can be challenging. Once you start working on your assignments you may realize you need a refresher or some guidance on how to work through your specific topic. 

You have a few ways to get in touch with me for help. I'm available most regular work weeks, Monday-Friday.

• Book a time to meet with Alex one-on-one in person or through Teams 

• Email me at alex.goudreau@unb.ca 
• Send me a chat message through Teams
• Drop in to see me in the Commons, room #117

You can also reach out anonymously through UNB Libraries' Ask Us chat. This service is staffed daily, including evenings and weekends. 

How do I figure out what my topic could be?

Review the final paper assignment details and rubric. Then see if anything sparks an interest or curiosity on a topic that you'd like to learn more about.

Down-Jones Library. Developing a topic. 

Brainstorming to get started 

How do I narrow down a topic?

After doing some searching for sources to learn more about your topic, you may need to change your topic to be more researchable. Consider this list and whether any of these might be an issue with your current topic:

Ways to narrow or broaden your topic:

• Demographics - age group, occupation, ethnic group, gender, etc.
• Related issues - are there key issues on your topic that you have an opinion about? Try to turn that into a thesis statement
• Location - narrow down to a specific place, city, country, region, etc.
• Timeframe - is your topic something that's happening now, are there historical implications? 
• Cause - consider reasons why your topic may be happening, what effect something is having on it to cause it to be occurring

Seneca Libraries. FAQ: How do I narrow my topic? 

How do I learn more about a topic?

To get started, it can be helpful to learn more information about a topic before jumping right into searching for journal articles. Doing some background research and reading can save you time and help you find ways to narrow your topic down. Background research can be done through quick Google searches and reading credible websites, looking at e-book chapters, or encyclopedia entries.

Hartness Library. "Pre-search" & gateway sources.

Try Google to get started and see if anything piques your interest for a narrower research question:

Also try a few quick database searches to gather other ideas:

You can see how different topics come up in different databases. Take a quick look in CINAHL to see how results differ from Pubmed and Google.

How can I tell if something is a credible and/or scholarly source?

It can be challenging when you're starting out with academic research to determine what kinds of sources you're finding, and whether they're the type of sources you need for your paper. Library databases and resources are the usual places to find scholarly sources, but you can find credible, scholarly sources through Google and other resources. Over time you'll learn how to distinguish scholarly from popular sources, and how to evaluate all types of sources for credibility.

Handout on using RADAR framework to evaluate sources (University of Waterloo)

Brock University Library. Evaluating sources with RADAR. 

Sims Library Research Help. Identifying source type for web sources.

  It's important to evaluate the background sources you consult.

Consider who published or authored the information, what the purpose of it is, and how old is the information. Wikipedia can be useful to get to know more about topics, but should not be cited in academic assignments. Look at the references to follow the information back to the primary sources, and cite those instead

Characteristics of popular vs scholarly sources

You'll need to use scholarly sources for your paper, but popular sources can also have a place in your research on a topic and depending on the source, could be used in your final paper.

 Popular sources

 Scholarly sources

What are peer reviewed sources and how do you identify them?

Not all scholarly sources will be peer reviewed articles, and it can be difficult to identify when you're getting started with academic research. 

Examples of peer reviewed articles, identifying peer reviewed articles, clues an article is not peer reviewed (Bow Valley College Libguide)

  How do I know if an article I found has come from a peer reviewed journal?

One tool you can use is Ulrichsweb. Use this to search for the journal title and if the title is there, look for this icon  which indicates the journal is refereed (aka peer reviewed). You can also visit the journal's homepage and look for their About, Editorial, Author, Publication pages for wording that indicates the journal has a peer review process.

*Note: Not everything published in a peer review journal has gone through the peer review process. Journals regularly publish editorials, book reviews, commentaries, etc. (usually only a few pages in length which can be a good indication that your "article" hasn't been peer reviewed and isn't the type of article you should use). Consult your instructor or librarian if you're still unsure after checking whether your article has been peer reviewed.

USC Libraries. Identify a peer reviewed article.

Cuesta College Library. How to identify & read scholarly, peer reviewed journal articles.

Why should I brainstorm search terms?

Before you start searching on your topic, it's helpful to consider the various possible keywords you could use in searching. Here's why:

• The more words you put in a database search, the fewer results you'll get, so breaking down your research question or topic down into the most important keywords is critical
• Most databases are clueless and don't know that certain words are used interchangeably. For example, they might not know that a word like salary means the same thing as earnings, wages, or pay, so it's important to think of terms that mean the same things
• The terms you naturally think of when you think about your topic may not be the same words that experts use to write about the topic

This requires you to think not only of the terms that naturally come to mind, but to brainstorm terms that mean the same thing or are related. You can identify other keywords by looking for a Wikipedia entry on your topic or simply doing a Google search on your topic and seeing what related or synonymous words are used in the titles of titles. Try to think of as many synonyms or related terms as you can.

Tips on how to brainstorm search terms

Cal State University San Bernadino John M. Pfau Library. (20215, August 31). Choosing and using keywords. [YouTube]. https://youtu.be/PCUjnPS2_1g 2:41mins

Portland State University Library. (2012, June 21). Brainstorming keywords. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmtIBn5tyEw 2:39mins

How do I find peer-reviewed scholarly sources for my paper?

Choose appropriate databases to search: For this assignment you'll be searching CINAHL and PubMed as they're both health/medical databases, but you're not limited searching only these databases. Think about who else or what other disciplines might study and write about your topic what and consider searching in those related databases (find additional databases here). 

Search the databases using keywords: Your goal is to find relevant articles that relate to your topic and could be a good fit to use in your paper.

Brock University Library. (2021, October 14). What's a search strategy? [Video]. YouTube. 3:30mins

CINAHL (Cumulative Index for Nursing & Allied Health) is the go-to database for nursing research. You have access to over 3000 journals indexed in CINAHL, either directly within the database or through our document delivery service. Because it's something we pay to access, you must access it through UNB Libraries. You can find it from the Databases page on the Library homepage, the Nursing & Health guide, or here: https://lib.unb.ca/eresources?id=161. 

Searching in CINAHL is similar to using Google, but there are some differences. When you search in CINAHL, everything you find will be scholarly (though not all peer reviewed). Don't get discouraged! Learning to search in databases is a bit different and will take time and practice. If you're struggling, please reach out to a librarian for help!

Swab, Michelle. (2021, March 15). Improving the comprehensiveness of your search (CINAHL). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIvD-pCjlM0 2:39mins. Search tips: Removing unnecessary words, adding related terms, using truncation

Swab, Michelle. (2021, March 15). Improving the relevant of your CINAHL search results. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpZHKILP0Hg 3:44mins.      Search tips: Using double quotations for phrases, searching in the title field only, adding additional concept groups, using limits

Example of search terms in CINAHL with database limits

PubMed is one of the most valuable databases for doing research in health as it contains many of the key scholarly journals in health and medicine disciplines. PubMed is the US National Library of Medicine's database of biomedical citations and abstract. This is a freely available database, but to get full-text access to articles from UNB's collection, you should access it through the Library's website, https://lib.unb.ca/eresources?id=452.

Searching in PubMed is similar to searching in CINAHL, though things look a bit different. When you search PubMed everything you find will be scholarly, but might not be peer reviewed. 

Example of search terms in PubMed with database limits

Swab, Michelle. (2021, March 15). PubMed searching. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4fu_ziFRaY 4:06mins

NDSU Library. (2021, September 1). PubMed tips and tricks tutorial. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWGckC_hlFg 2:23mins

Review your search results: Scan through the results on the first page or so, reading the title/abstracts to find potentially relevant articles.

How do you know if an article is relevant? Just because an article is in the results doesn't mean it'll provide the information you need for your paper. Look at the article title and abstract to get a summary of what the article is about

Redo your search as needed: if you're not finding relevant article try using different search terms or another database; this is completely normal and expected.

University of Arizona Libraries. (2020, April 24). Should I rethink my search? [Video]. YouTube. 3:30mins

Read parts of your selected articles: find a few articles that look promising, and skim read the introduction/conclusion of the full-text to decide if they're useful for your assignment. If a PDF or link to the full-text isn't readily available, click on the  link to see if we have it in our collection.  

CINAHL example of accessing full-text

PubMed example of accessing full-text

How do I read scholarly articles?

Reading journal articles can take some practice. Since they're written for other experts in a field, there may be parts of them that you don't completely understand and that's okay! Here are some tips on how to approach reading journal articles (hint - you don't have to read the whole thing, and you'll likely read!)

• NSCU Libraries. (2009, July 13). Anatomy of a scholarly article. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/scholarly-articles/ (interactive)
• Forsmire, Michael. (n.d.). How to read a scientific paper. Purdue University Libraries. https://www.lib.purdue.edu/sites/default/files/libraries/engr/Tutorials/Newest%20Scientific%20Paper.pdf

Western University. (2012, April 26). How to read a scholarly article. [Video]. YouTube. 2:34mins

Why is it important to give credit when using other peoples' work?

It's important to learn how to properly cite your sources to ensure you're appropriately giving credit for the thoughts and work of other people. Learning how to cite involves understanding the different parts that go into creating a citation. This page from UBC Library Informatics for Nursing helpfully breaks down an article citation into the different pieces you need to know about.

NJIT Library. (2019, January 9). Research is a conversation. [Video]. YouTube. 2:01mins

The standard citation style for nursing is APA (American Psychological Association):

It's strongly encouraged that you use the official publication manual from APA. There are copies available in the library to use in-house (they can't be borrowed).

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association,
  • 7th edition 2020 UNB Libraries holdings
• APA Style: Style and Grammar Guidelines
• APA Style: Reference Examples
• Contact the UNB Saint John Writing Centre for assistance

Finding permalinks to use in your citations

For regular websites it's okay to copy the url/link from your browser and use that in your citation. When you click on it again, you'll see that it opens the page you want it to. This isn't the same when you find sources through databases, so you need to know where to find permalinks or DOIs (depending on what you need to include).

• Getting a permalink from UNB Worldcat (search box on library homepage)
• Getting a permalink from an EBSCO database (like CINAHL)
• Getting a permalink from a Proquest database (like Nursing & Allied Health)

What's a DOI, how to find them, and when to use them

• APA Style: DOIs and URLs
• DOI Help: Digital Object Identifiers DOIs)

Drake Memorial Library. (2021, January 20). Find the digital object identifier (DOI) of an article. [Video]. YouTube. 1:29mins

Commons APA citing mistakes

• Be careful when using citation generators from databases or websites - these are computer generated and only as good as the information available to them. Often there are errors and mistakes and it's your responsibility to make sure the citations are correct when using sources in your assignments
  • If you do use a citation generator, make sure it's set to APA 7 as it might not be the default

Example of CINAHL's citation generator

Example of PubMed's citation generator

• When writing out the title of an article or website name, mind which words get capitalized - only the first word in the title or subtitle, acronyms, and any proper nouns (people, places, etc.) are capitalized, everything else should be lowercase
• Make sure you've looked for the DOI (or include the url if no DOI is available) and include that in your citation - many, but not all journal articles have a DOI but it's often hard to find and appears in different locations on the article
• Don't cite journal articles like websites - this is an easy mistake because most articles are found online and technically are websites. You need to determine what type of source you're using before figuring out how to cite it properly. Some websites will be cited like a report, a journal article, while others get cited as websites. When in doubt, consult the manual, look for examples, or ask for help!

Zotero

• This is a free citation management program. This is useful for saving citations and relevant articles for different searches, and then being able to cite them in whatever citation format you want in Word or export a bibliography.
• Note: Zotero is only as good as the information it pulls from the articles. Always double check the citations to ensure it has cited them correctly and they aren’t missing anything.

How do I use and incorporate my sources in my assignment? 

First you should consider whether you have all the sources you need to support the different aspects of your presentation or paper. If you're missing key supporting sources you may need to do more searching.

What role does a source play in your paper?

Look at the assignment details, rubric, to see what information is required for your paper, or how you should structure your paper. You've found sources for a reason, and each source will have a purpose in your paper.

Consider your sources and these different roles they could play:

1. Sources that support or confirm what we already know
2. Sources that add to our knowledge on the topic
3. Sources that challenge our ideas about a topic
4. Sources from which to pull relevant quotes to support our thinking

 One source can play more than one role, even all four.

Downs-Jones Library. Incorporating sources into your research paper.