Database Practice
Let's Practice!
CINAHL
Let's pretend we are searching for peer-reviewed research articles related to the use of a nutritional intervention in patients with total hip replacement.
1. Access CINAHL Plus with Full Text by starting at the library home page and clicking on Databases. Click on "Nursing" (you can do this by the dropdown menu or the database subject list). Then click on CINAHL.
2. In the first line type: "Total Hip Replacement" OR "Hip Fracture*"
Tip: Putting quotation marks around two or more terms searches them as a phrase.
3. In the second line type: nutrition* OR diet*
Tip: Use the asterisk to search for the variation of a word (e.g. - perception OR perceptions OR perceived).
4. In the third line, type: intervention* or supplement* OR "Nutritional Support"
Keep in mind that each line in the above search represents a group of terms that act as synonyms – like those that belong in the same circle in a Venn diagram.
You should retrieve approximately 240-300 results.
5. Click on 'Advanced Search' link below the search box.
6. Scroll down under ‘Limit Your Results’ and check the 'Research Article', ‘Peer Reviewed’, and 'English Language' boxes. Change the dates to 2010 - 2015.
The results should decrease further.
Notice the “Add to Folder” icon 
located to the right of each article title. This is where you would add a record to the folder. REMEMBER: the folder is only saved if you have signed into your EBSCOhost account at the top of the screen where it says “Sign In”.
7. Click on the title ""Multidisciplinary, multi-modal nutritional care in acute hip fracture inpatients – Results of a pragmatic intervention" to go to the Detailed Record. The detailed record contains all of the needed information for a complete citation including the authors, article title, journal title, issue number, volume number, and page numbers. In addition to the bibliographic information, the Detailed Record includes the abstract, subject headings and other useful tools.
The abstract is a great place to look to see if the article is a research study.
8. Notice the icons on the right hand side which will allow you to Email, Print, or Cite this article record. Tip: Keep in mind that database generated citations are not always perfect, so be sure to double check them :)
9. Click on "Full text" OR "Get Full Text" to view the entire article. Exit when finished.
Proceed to the next section of this module.