Hi. I'm Kathryn, your subject librarian and I've created this guide to help you with your research for NRS160. 

Each section introduces the steps you should take when researching for an assessment. You'll find links to short informational videos and resources that will give you the tools to find helpful information and quality resources. Check out our instructional videos on Finding Journal Articles and Using Library Databases. Use the activities on the test your knowledge tab to see what you need to revise.

If you would like an introduction to our Library website and services check out:

The first thing is to make sure you clearly understand the assessment task and what topic you are seeking information for, this is called topic analysis. Check your assessment task details in your Subject Outline.

With an understanding of your task you then need to plan how you will search for information. This starts with identifying and brainstorming keywords, synonyms and related terms to use in your search for information. 

Example:

What are the instruction words for your task? Have you been asked to define or identify or discuss? The common instruction words guide below will help you.   

Does your assessment task place any limits or qualifiers? These might be "in the last X years" or Australian content or peer-reviewed. Check your assessment task details in your Subject Outline.

For guidance in topic analysis check out:

Before you start searching, think about what types of information you need and where you can search to find those types of resources. Check out the information links listed below .

Primo Search

Primo Search is a good place to start as it allows you to use one search box to bring back results from most of our Library collection including books, eBooks, journal articles, newspaper articles and more. You may get a large number of results and some of these will be from outside your subject/discipline area. Check the content is relevant to your assessment task before you use it.

Watch: Finding Journal Articles tutorial video. 

Library databases

Databases will help you find academic resources and are often subject specific. You will get fewer results than Primo Search, but they will be more relevant to your subject/discipline. 

Watch: Using Library Databases tutorial video. 

I recommend trying the following databases:

The Nursing database list has more databases you can search. 

Learn how to search efficiently in Primo and Library databases:

To find scholarly sources of information for your assessment task, consider the keywords and limits you have identified, to create your Primo or database search. Combine the keywords with Boolean Operators or "search operators", rather than searching with a whole sentence or question. Search operators tell Primo Search or the database how to search with your keywords.

Example: Creating search strings using identified keywords, synonyms and related terms.

• (nurse OR "nurse practitioner") AND qualification

• nurse AND (qualification OR experience OR licensed) AND Australia* 

• (syndrome OR disorder) AND (infection OR sickness) AND "ill health"

To understand how search operators work check out:

Knowing how to identify and use credible information will improve the quality of your assessment and may result in better marks, but how can you tell whether the resources you've found are credible and suitable for your assessment? Have you been asked to identify peer reviewed, academic or refereed articles? 

The information links below, which includes the CRAP Test, will help you evaluate the information you find, in books, journal articles, or online to make sure it’s reliable.

And understanding the parts of the citations can help you to identify what type of resource it is, where to look to for it, and provide you with a better understanding of how to create references in your assignments.

The Academic Skills team can help you to build your writing, referencing and reading skills to be successful at Charles Sturt University.

Explore resources from the Academic Skills team in the Learning Skills section of the Student Portal.

Here are some pages to get you started:

Important: You will need to create an account to register for Cambridge and ClinicalKey Student eBooks. Alternatively you can also use your existing ScienceDirect, Scopus, or Mendeley username and password.  For help on how to access ClinicalKey check out this (short) video (2:20mins) 

Watch: eBook etiquette

If you're interested in finding out more, check out the following: