Nursing Research Guide: CINAHL

To access all Nursing databases, go to the A-Z databases list by clicking Articles/Databases on the library homepage.

Click on Subjects and select Nursing & Health Sciences to see a list of all databases with information related to that subject.

Or, to access CINAHL directly, click on the C in the alphabetical list. Scroll down to CINAHL Complete - Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, and click the link to open the database.

Once you are in the database, type in keywords related to your subject in the search box. You may begin with a simple search...

...Or use multiple terms and Boolean operators to create a more complex search.

After hitting search, you will see a list of results. This search found over 10,000 resources! You can use the filters underneath the search bar to refine your results.

We recommend always activating the "Full text" filter, as it will force your results to only show articles that you have full access to read. "Peer reviewed" will limit the results to those approved by the peer review process. The "All time" dropdown menu will provide publication date range options.

Always check with your professor to determine what specifications they require for your scholarly resources. For example, do they require peer-reviewed items published within the last ten years?

You can also click the "All filters" button to bring up the full list of filter options. 

If you specifically need a journal article, use the "Source types" filter and activate the Academic journals option. If you need to narrow your search further, try searching for a specific subject using the "Subject: Major Heading" filter. Once you have chosen your filters, click Apply.

What are Subject Headings

Subject Headings are terms assigned to articles to describe the content found within the article. In some databases, Subject Headings may also be referred to as Subject Terms.

A Subject Term can be identified as a Major Subject Heading or a Minor Subject Heading. The designation is a reflection of the content of the article. If the subject is identified as Major Subject Heading it means that it is the main focus and main subject matter of the article. If the subject is identified as a Minor Subject Heading, it is mentioned or discussed in the article but it is not the main focus of the article.

Using CINAHL Subject Headings:

Subject terms are assigned based on article content, allowing you to create a targeted search. When you click the Suggest Subject Terms box above the Find field prior to conducting a search, your terms are searched against the CINAHL Headings or MeSH Headings.

Major Concept

When you select Major Concept for a term, you create a search query that finds only records for which the subject heading is a major point of the article. Searches are limited with specific qualifiers (subheadings) to improve the precision of the search, and limited to major subject headings indicate the main concept of an article.

Explode

When you Explode a term, you create a search query that “explodes” the subject heading. The headings are exploded to retrieve all references indexed to that term as well as all references indexed to any narrower subject terms.

In a database with a tree, such as MeSH or CINAHL Subject Headings, exploding retrieves all documents containing any of the subject terms below the term you selected. In other databases, exploding retrieves all documents containing the selected term, as well as any of its first level of narrower terms. If a plus sign (+) appears next to a narrower or related term, there are narrower terms below it.

Combining Explode and Major Concept

If you select both Explode and Major Concept, you retrieve all references indexed to your term (and its narrower terms) and all articles for which the subject heading is a major point of the article.

CINAHL uses a controlled subject vocabulary that assists in more effectively searching the database. Subjects are arranged in a hierarchical tree that can accessed using the CINAHL Headings tab below the main search box. 

Once you are sure of what terms you want include in your research, click the box next to the term, then click "add to search" at the top of the section. This will add those coded terms to the search bar in connection with the original topic. 

Your terms will be directly added to the top search bar. 

The original additional term acts as an AND boolean filter, reducing your number of results. Each added term works as an OR boolean filter and will increase the number of your results. See below for an example of this. You can stack as many modifiers as you need. 

MM "Diabetes Mellitus" = 46,550 results ; (Diabetes Mellitus alone)
MM "Diabetes Mellitus+/DT" = 23,420 results ; (Diabetes Mellitus AND Drug Therapy)
MM "Diabetes Mellitus+/DT/DH/PC/RH" = 25,749 results (Diabetes Mellitus AND (Drug Therapy OR Diet Therapy))

If you need more information on the topic you can click on the heading itself to read a description of the term, see the scope of recommended usage, related topics, and the hierarchical tree breakdown.

To access the full text article click on the "Access options" and choose either PDF or choose to read via "Online full text."

Both viewing options have benefits. The PDF version (left) will show the article as originally published. Images, charts, and tables will appear in the article as mentioned. The online version (right) may remove images, or shift them to the end of the article, but it provides added accessibility functions, including audio and translation tools. 

You can access the full menu of tools at the top of the article page.

You may also want to save the article by printing, emailing it, or saving it to your Google Drive. You can also now create an EBSCO account to permanently save articles for easy access. See the guide below for what each menu item means.

The citation tool is a great place to start for your works cited page. However, be sure to check the citation that is generated for the article against our citation handouts, as they are not always 100% accurate. 

Many databases also have accessibility functions. In this case there is an option for having the article read to you, as well as a translation function.

For more information on the translation function check out our guide: https://brcc.vccs.libguides.com/translating/asc

To keep track of your search history and articles, we recommend setting up an EBSCO account. To do this, click on the MyEBSCO icon in the upper right hand corner of the database page.

Use your school email to setup your account.

You are now ready to save articles to your account for easy access! Use the same MyEBSCO button to login each time you begin a research session. Set up project folders to keep track of which articles you want to use for each course.