Database Skills (CINAHL)

Getting Started

Welcome to the Database Research Skills Tutorial.

This tutorial will teach you about the research process using the CINAHL database.

This "Guide on the Side" tutorial allows you to continue to use the library website while also following along with the tutorial.

Note: If you are off campus, you may be asked for your Pirate ID and passphrase to log in to the database.

The tutorial will take approximately 15 minutes. Click the right arrow at the bottom of this pane to proceed.

Navigation

Before we begin, please take note of the following navigation buttons that you will see in the Guide on the Side panel:

Your Turn: This button represents an opportunity to use the database during the tutorial, so follow the directions!

Ask Us: Click this to be connected with a librarian via IM when the Research Desk is open.

Let's get started!

Sample Topic

For the purposes of this tutorial, we will be using the following sample research question: "Is St. John's Wort as effective as traditional antidepressants in treating depression?"

The paper requirements say that you need at least 4 scholarly sources.

You find scholarly sources in library databases, but what is a database?

Chapter: Defining Databases

You can find articles by searching in a database. A database is a searchable collection of information. Examples of everyday databases include iTunes and IMDB. A library database contains scholarly journal articles, newspapers, magazine articles, trade journals, and sometimes book chapters.

The database we are searching in this tutorial is CINAHL. This is a subject-specific database, which means it is limited to selected major fields of study.

In this case, CINAHL includes nursing and allied health literature.

Keywords vs Subject Headings

Many library databases use keyword searching, but CINAHL uses subject heading searching.

So what's the difference?

Keyword Searching

Subject Heading Searching

One of the primary benefits of subject heading searching is that CINAHL employees review every single article in the database to assign appropriate subject headings.

As an example, one author may use the term "PTSD" but another author may use the term "combat shock".  When you search by subject heading rather than keywords, you will retrieve relevant articles regardless of the author's choice of terminology.

Developing Keywords & Choosing Subject Headings

Our sample research question: "Is St. John's Wort as effective as traditional antidepressants in treating depression?"

What keywords would you identify for this topic?

Now that we have the necessary keywords, we will use CINAHL to find the appropriate subject headings.

Searching in CINAHL - Part 1

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Use the search box to enter in our first keyword: depression

This will retrieve a list of subject headings for you to choose from.

Select the subject heading most appropriate for your search by checking the box next to the term.

This will open up a list of subheadings for you to choose from.

For this sample topic, we want to be sure to search for all types of depression, so check the box in the "Explode(+)" column before applying subheadings.

Searching in CINAHL - Part 1

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Subheadings

You may not always need to select subheadings, but for this topic we want to select these subheadings from this list:

• Drug Therapy/DT
• Therapy/TH

Once you have selected your subject heading and subheadings scroll back to the top and click on the bright green "Search Database" button. 

Then you will see the list of article results for our first subject heading.

Searching in CINAHL - Part 2

Next, use the search box to enter in our second keyword: st johns wort

This term is a major point of our sample research question, so this time when you check the box next to the appropriate subject heading, also check the box in the "Major Concept" column.

Now the only article results we will find will have this subject heading as a major point of the articles.

Then hit the bright green "Search Database" button.

Searching in CINAHL - Part 3

Now use the search box a third time to enter our third keyword: antidepressants

For this sample topic, we want to be sure to search for all types of antidepressants, so find the appropriate subject heading (Antidepressive Agents) and check the box in the "Explode(+)" column.

Click the green "Search Database" button one more time.

Combining Search Terms

Lastly, check the boxes next to the three searches in your Search History and click the "Search with AND" button.

Now you will see a list of articles that match all of the subject headings.

Click on an article title to view the detailed record, which usually includes an article abstract and list of the article's associated subject headings.

Click on the  button to locate the full text of an article.

Refine Results

Your assignment may require you to use peer reviewed articles or find articles that have been published in the last 5 years. 

To easily find articles that meet your assignment criteria, use the Refine Results column on the left side of the Search Results screen.

There are boxes to check to limit your results to Peer Reviewed articles, and an option to limit to a certain publication date range.

A Note about Full Text

The Full Text option allows you to see only the items with the whole article attached to the record. Many times, if you click the button, you will see that ECU Libraries do, in fact, have the full text in another database or journal. If we do not have an article, we can normally get it for you via Interlibrary Loan.

Using the Temporary Folder

Next, notice the blue folder-shaped icon with a + on it.  If you have found an article to use in your research, you can add it to the temporary folder to hold articles.

 

Add 4 articles to the folder.

                                    

E-mailing the Articles

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Scroll to the top of the screen to access the folder. Click in to the folder and notice that on the right there is the option to E-mail.

Once you have accessed the E-mail option, you can do the following:

• Enter your own email address
• Enter a subject and comments
• Change the citation format to the format required for your paper
• Click Send!

E-mailing the Articles

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You should now have 4 articles in your inbox.  The articles will be attached to the e-mail if they were PDFs, or there will be a link back to the database.  You will have the citation for your articles as well, but make sure to check them over for accuracy before copy/pasting them into your bibliography.

Next Steps: if you wish to complete this tutorial again with your own topic, you may start over by clicking Back Home.

 

Certificate

Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.

You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas. If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.