LibAnswers: Dutchess CC - Public FAQ

When searching for nursing articles, the best database to start with is CINAHL. 

If your instructor has told you to find articles that are evidence-based, follow this rule: 

In any article's full text, look for a section labeled "Methods". In that section, the author(s) will lay out their protocol for the evidence they gathered from experiment and observation of patients. 

Searching in CINAHL:

1. At the Ritz Library homepage, find the link for Database List and click it
   1. Find CINAHL and click on it
2. Sign into the database with your DCC username and password
   1. NOTE: your DCC username is typically your first name, a dot, then your last name.

3. When the database search page comes up, type your subject into the first search box
4. Scroll down the page to the section marked Limit your results
5. To the right, find Full Text – click in the small box just below that
6. NOTE: you'll also see a checkbox for "Evidence-based practice": DO NOT check the box, this will not lead you to evidence-based articles. See the note at the beginning of this text for info on that portion of article searching. 
6. Scroll down – look for the box marked Journal Subset
   1. In that box, click on the word All
   2. Tap the letter N on your keyboard – the list should change to Nursing and will be highlighted in blue

7. If you are required to use articles from the United States, find the box marked Geographic Subset
   1. Click on the word All
8. Tap the letter U on your keyboard twice – it should highlight United States in blue
9. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the gold Search button

Your list of results should appear with the number of articles at the top.

If you’re required to find articles from the past 5 years, follow these steps:

1. In the left column of the search results page, find the box marked Limit To:

2. The words Publication Date will be flanked by two years

3. Change the older year to five years ago and hit Enter. The list will automatically readjust and contain only articles from the past five years

Click the blue title of any article in the list to see more information about it and to get the full text in PDF format.

To get an APA citation for any article, click the Cite icon at the right.

An alternate database you can use is Ovid Core Nursing Titles. 

Searching in OVID Core Nursing Titles:

1. At the Ritz Library homepage, find the link for Database List and click it
   1. Find OVID Core Nursing Titles alphabetically and click on it
2. Sign into the database with your DCC username and password
   1. NOTE: your DCC username is typically your first name, a dot, then your last name.

3. When the database search page comes up, type your subject into the first search box
4. Click the blue Search button to the right -- your results will appear in a few seconds with the most recent articles appearing first

To change the results to articles from the past five years, find the Filter By box in the left column and click on “Past 5 years” and wait for the list to adjust.

Click the blue title of any article in the list to see more information about it and to get the full text.

Helpful tips:

• Click on Article as PDF, top of the right column, for the full text
• Click on Cite in the right column for an APA citation