When you need to find information about a topic, start brainstorming which terms you could use to describe what interests you the most about your topic.
"Chronic pain" AND aspirin: I could use these terms to start looking for information on if aspirin can be used to treat chronic pain. The quotation marks tell a search engine to search the words chronic and pain together in that order. The AND lets the search engine know I want both terms in my results.
"chronic pain" OR "long-term pain": Remember to brainstorm different ways the author of an article might talk about an issue. In this case, chronic pain is the more common term, but long-term pain is sometimes used for essentially the same thing. You can search them independently or use the OR to tell the database any of those phrases in your results are acceptable.
At their simplest, databases are just online pockets of information. Although there is some overlap between similar databases, each database has unique information. To access the library databases,
1. Begin on the Library website
2. On the right side of the page, click the red Browse Subjects button
3. Jump to the Health and Nursing section for all of the databases relevant to this class
Health and Wellness from Gale is one of the easiest databases to start your research. It contains scholarly articles, topic overviews, encyclopedia articles, persuasive essays, and even videos and graphics for class presentations.
1. Go to Health and Wellness from Gale.
2. Click on Browse Topics and choose your health issue from the list of options.
3. The topic page begins with an overview that will help you understand the most discussed and controversial aspects of your topic.
4. Below the overview are the categories of different sources you could use for your project, such as academic journals, reference articles, videos, etc.
5. When you have chosen a source for your paper, make sure you save it to refer back to later. All Gale databases are fully integrated with Microsoft OneDrive. Just sign into your TCC Microsoft account, and the database will give you the option of saving directly to your OneDrive.
6. The Cite button at the top right of each article or resource will automatically generate an APA citation for you, but remember you will still need to check it over. No automatic citation generator is always accurate.
CINAHL Complete is the major database for nursing and allied health fields. Its basic search options are the same as other EBSCOhost databases such as Alt HealthWatch and Health Source: Consumer Edition, so it is a good database to learn.
1. Begin at CINAHL Complete.
2. Enter one search term per box. Using more than one search term will help you narrow your results. If you need more rows, use the plus button to add them.
3. Use the limiters on the left side of the page to limit to academic journals if needed and to limit by date to get the most current research.
4. Once you find an article you like, make sure you save it to your Microsoft OneDrive or other drive of your choice.
5. The Cite button on the right side of the page will automatically generate an APA citation for you. Remember to double-check it for accuracy!
