Search Strategies
1. Connect to EBSCOhost and choose CINAHL from the list of databases. This
will take you to the CINAHL Advanced Search screen.
2. Click on the rectangular icon for the CINAHL Headings. You will find
this in the green band at the top of the Advanced Search screen.
- The CINAHL Headings are the official terms used
by CINAHL to describe subjects.
- Using the CINAHL Headings, as opposed to keywords,
will help you to do more focused and efficient searching.
3. Once in the CINAHL Headings, type the term you
have in mind in the box labeled “Browse for” and click on the Browse button. The
results of your search are “relevancy ranked” by default.
- If the word or phrase you typed in is a correct subject
heading, it should be the first heading in the result list. If the word
or phrase you
entered is not the correct heading, CINAHL will usually direct you to the
right one. In such a case, at the top of the result list your word or phrase
will appear followed by the word USE in boldface. Following that will be
displayed the correct subject heading to use in searching. It will be underlined
and in blue. If your subject heading is not the correct one, but no correct
heading is given, you should scroll through the resulting list of headings
to see which one most closely fits the idea you are interested in. Sometimes
there may be more than one. Write them down.
- If you need more information on a heading to
determine if it is the correct one to use, click on the word “Scope” to
the right of the heading. This will take you to the “Scope Note” (CINAHL’s
definition for the heading). This should help clarify if you should use
that heading.
- Every term you want to use in your search should be
searched in the CINAHL Headings.
4.To enter your search in CINAHL, click on the New Search link found in the green band running near the top of the screen. This will take you back to the Advanced Search screen.
5. Enter your subject headings in the “Find” boxes.
- Using the pull down menus to the right of
the “Find” boxes,
choose MH (Exact Subject Heading). Do this with the menu next to each “Find” box
in which you have entered a CINAHL Heading.
- This will insure that CINAHL searches the words you
have entered as subject headings and not just words appearing randomly
in the retrieved
citations.
6. Scroll down to the section of the screen labeled “Limit Your Results” and
click on the box labeled “Grace Library Print Periodical Collection.”
- This will limit your result to only items owned in print by Grace Library.
- To search for research articles, click in
the box next to “Research
Article.”
- To search for citations from nursing journals
only, choose “Nursing” from
the Journal Subset menu.
7. To perform your search, scroll back up to the “Find” boxes
where you typed your subject headings and click on the Search button, which
is on the far right side of the screen.
Logging Off CINAHL
When you are finished using CINAHL it is extremely important to log off.
CINAHL has a limit to the number of Carlow users that can access it, therefore
when you log off you make the database available for other users. To log
off CINAHL on EBSCOhost do the following:
- Along the top of the screen you will see a number of blue and green
tabs. Click on the tab Choose Database. You have now exited the EBSCOhost
databases until you choose another one.
Accessing CINAHL from Off Campus
If you would like to access EBSCOhost (which includes CINAHL) from a computer that is not connected to the Carlow network, connect to the
Grace Library home page and click on the
Off Campus Access link that is located on the right hand side of the homepage.
Log into the system using your Active Directory username and password (the same username and password that you use to log into lab computers). Additional are instructions are available on the off campus web page to help you to access library indexes from off campus.
10/07
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