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Research 101

This guide's purpose is to help you understand researching at a college level. Use the navigation on the left-hand side to explore different parts of a typical research process. If you need further help, contact a librarian!

Resource Types

A journal article is a scholarly and peer-reviewed publication that presents original research, reviews, or analyses on a specific topic. They are typically written by experts in the field and published in an academic or professional journal. 

You will likely be required to use journal articles for most, if not all, of your references. 

You can access journal articles in the CF Library's databases. For nursing-specific literature, search these databases directly: 

CF Databases for Nursing Literature

You can find more nursing or health sciences databases by going to the Database A-Z List and selecting the appropriate subject in the drop-down menu. 

View searching tutorials for CINAHL, Ovid, or Cochrane here under the Databases tab.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a repository of scholarly articles and grey literature. Google Scholar is useful because:

  • You can connect CF library to Google Scholar and see what we have available in your search results. (See below for instructions)
  • You can find articles we do not have in our databases. If prompted to pay for them, reach out to your health sciences liaison (See Get Help! on the left)
  • You can search in a more traditional way, which can help you hone in your keywords more easily than in a database. 

For an in-depth look at how to use Google Scholar, click here. 

Books and eBooks can be useful as supplemental information for your research or studies. You can search for them with the library catalog.

If you are browsing the physical shelves, you can look within these call numbers for books on nursing and other health sciences: 

R723-726                 Medical philosophy. Medical ethics.

R726.5-726.8           Medicine and disease in relation to psychology. Terminal care. Dying

RM1-950                  Therapeutics. Pharmacology | RM695-893 Physical medicine. Physical therapy 

RT1-120                   Nursing

RZ201-999               Other systems of medicine, i.e., mental healing, naturopathy

Get Started

Below are some general books on nursing subjects that might be a good start for your in developing your research topic. The call number, or unique address on the shelf, is shown. Click the link to view the book in our catalog to either reserve or transfer a copy to a CF campus closer to you.

Note: If the book is the library's reference copy (denoted by REF in the call number) it cannot be checked out. 

Enter your own search terms into the box below to find related titles in our catalog.

Books and eBooks can be useful as supplemental information for your research or studies. You can search for them with the library catalog. One benefit of eBooks is they often come with features, such as downloading and printing pages or full chapters, citation generators, accessibility options, and perhaps most usefully, a search function. 

To locate available eBooks in CF's catalog, apply filters. 

If an eBook is available, you will see a green "Available Online" link on the item record in the catalog. Clicking on that link will usually take you to a separate section of the record that lists the databases through which you can access the eBook. Sometimes, it will be available automatically as a PDF. 

Get Started

Here are some general eBooks on nursing subjects that might be a good start for your in developing your research topic. Click the link to view the book's record in our catalog, and access it in our databases.

Enter your own search terms into the box below to find related titles in our catalog.

You can find supplemental, statistical, open access, or other helpful information on the web. It is important to take information from reliable, trustworthy, nursing-related websites and sources.

Websites for Nursing Information and Literature:

Methods for Evaluating Web Source Material

Visit this section for insights into evaluating a web source and its material. 

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Google Scholar Tips