DNP Writing: Finding Articles

1.  Start out at the library’s homepage, https://millikin.edu/academics/staley-library

2.  Click on the link for “Find Articles, Audio, & Video- Search Databases.”

or click on the “Staley Library Databases” link in myMillikin

3.  That will take you to the database page. Under “Databases by Subject” click on Nursing.

4.  We have several nursing and health sciences databases. Most of your searches should begin with CINAHL Complete (The Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature), which is the best database for research nursing topics. Click on "CINAHL Complete."

5.  The main CINAHL search screen has three boxes. Begin by typing the main concepts you've identified from your research question into separate boxes and click "Search."

6.  Now you will have some results. Scan through the first page of results to judge whether your search retrieved what you were hoping for.  

If not, take a look at some of the limits on the left side of the screen. Try limiting your results by year, source type, or subject heading.

Or, consider trying some different search terms. You may need to break your research into several different searches. 

There are other, useful search limiters on the main search screen, below the search box that allow you to limit your results to certain options before you even perform your search. Look for the "Search Options" area of the screen.

• If you need to find an article in a nursing journal, select "Nursing" from the "Journal Subset" limiter

• If you need an author to be a nurse, use the "First Author is Nurse" or "Any Author is Nurse" limiters

• You may need a "Peer-Reviewed" article, an "Evidence-Based Practice" article, or a "Research Article."  There are limits for these as well!

• You may want to limit your journal to "English Language," or limit your results to the languages you are able to read (hold down the "ctrl" button on your keyboard and click on each option to choose multiple languages).

• Your professor may ask you to find article within the last five years. Use the date limiter for this!