For BSc Nursing 1st year students at Middlesex University

1. Introduction
to literature
searching
Nursing October 2015

2. Today we are going to cover...
• Finding the evidence
• Searching effectively for journal articles
• Evaluating information for your assignments

3. Evidence
Exercise 1 - Discuss in pairs
• What is “evidence”?
• Can you think of some situations where
evidence would be useful in healthcare
practice? Why?

4. What Is Evidence?
“Information or signs indicating whether
something is true or valid”
Compact Oxford Dictionary for Students (2006)
You will need to provide appropriate
evidence to support any claims or arguments
made in your assignments

5. Evidence-Based Practice
“…involves the conscientious use of current
best evidence in making decisions about
patient care…”
Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: a guide to
best practice (2005)

6. Where’s the evidence?
• Guidelines for practice, e.g. NICE clinical
guidelines are based on research evidence
from specialist resources
• High quality, peer-reviewed research in
journal articles
• Articles can be found using specialist subject
databases

7. Today we’re going to search for
literature on...
Culture and professional practice
What are the important concepts in your
learning log topic? Are there other words for
the same ideas?

8. Finding resources
myUniHub > My Study > My Library
Access all sorts of
online resources here!

9. My Subject – library guides

10. Exercise 2: Thinking about your
keywords
• On the 1st year page of the Nursing guide
• Find the ‘Padlet’ link for your group (e.g. Group 1)
• Double click on the Padlet page to add your ideas –
which words would you use to search for information
on this topic?
• Are there other words for the same ideas? Write them
down!

11. Exercise 3: Finding journal articles
• From the 1st year Nursing page…
• Use InterNurse and Summon to search for
articles on culture and professional practice
• Remember to try the other keywords on the
Padlet too

12. Evaluating what you’ve found
Is it what you need and is it trustworthy?
What criteria would you use to assess the
relevance and quality of the information?

13. The C A R P test

14. C A R P
• Currency - How old is the information?
When was it last updated?
• Authority - Who is the author / site creator?
What is their background? Is the article
published in a scholarly/peer reviewed
journal?
• Relevance - Is this what I need? Will it
answer my question? Is it at the right level?
• Purpose - What is the purpose of the
information e.g. financial gain, propaganda,
academic, etc.

15. Exercise 4
• Work in groups
• 5 resources and evaluation sheet
• For each resource, decide as a group if it
meets the criteria.
• No need to read the whole thing!

16. Referencing
• Is very important
• Acknowledges other people’s work (avoids
plagiarism)
• Shows you’ve read around the subject
• Supports your discussion and arguments
• Gets you better marks!
• Enables others to find your references

17. Referencing – style guide

18. What we’ve covered
• Using evidence based resources
• Searching effectively for journal articles
• Critically evaluating information
• Any questions?

19. Need help?
• Librarians in the StudyHub (1st floor) Monday –
Friday 9-5
• Ask a Librarian
https://unihelp.mdx.ac.uk/askalibrarian
• Nursing Library Subject Guide
http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/nursing