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Nursing Research Guide: MEDLINE

A guide created to assist BRCC Nursing students with their coursework.

MEDLINE

The following is an overview of the CINAHL database search process. For a fuller description, with images of the searching process, click through the tabs above. 

  1. Accessing Nursing Databases: To find articles using our library databases, go to the library homepage, and use the link for "Articles/Databases. In the Subjects dropdown, select Nursing & Health Sciences. To access Medline directly, click on the M in the alphabetical list. Scroll down to MEDLINE, and click the link to open the database.

  2. Searching MEDLINE: Once you are in the database, you can use the search boxes at the top to begin your research. You may begin with a simple search, or use multiple terms and Boolean operators to create a more complex search.

  3. Using Filters/Limiters: You will most likely get a large amount of results when you begin your search. There are a variety of limits (filters) available to adjust the number and quality of your results. "Full Text" and "Peer Reviewed" are the most used. 

  4. Accessing the Article: To access the full text article click on one of the options below the title. Click the "Get full text" button to open the article. It will open the resource in a new tab. It will appear as published. 

  5. Database Tools: You can use the database tools to access the citation for your article, download a PDF of the source, or save it to your Drive. 

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 MEDLINE directly, click on the M in the alphabetical list. Scroll down to MEDLINE, 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. You can do this in the Basic Search tool, or click on "Advanced Search" to use multiple search boxes. It may be easier to break-down your research keywords using the advanced search option. 

You can begin limiting/filtering your results before you initiate your search. Some of the more commonly used filters are explained below. 

  • "Peer Reviewed" will limit the results to those approved by the peer review process.

  • The "Publication Date" dropdown menu will provide date range options. Some professors may require that you find articles published within a certain time frame.

  • "Document Type" can help you limit your results to resource types that best fit your research needs.

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?

If you are noticing the same results over and over again, you can exclude duplicate documents using the filter option at the bottom of the page. Click on "Results page options" to access the options circled in blue. 

Or you can adjust your filters after hitting search, by using the menu to the left of the results. If you need to edit your search terms, either edit them directly in the search bar, or click "Modify search" to go back to the advanced search menu.

Click on the down arrow at the right of the filter label to access the full filter menu. The Subject filter will allow you to pick specific subject areas to "include" or "exclude" from your search.

All your currently applied filters will appear below the result count. You can remove any filter by clicking on the x next to the term. 

To access the article click on "Get Full Text."

Or, you can click on the "Abstract/Details" to access information about the article, including the abstract, author credentials, and publication information. You can use the MeSH subject headings (in blue) to build on your keyword search, either by adding terms, or focusing on any narrower terms indexed. You can also use titles in the "Suggested sources" section (in purple) to quickly add articles to your bibliography. 

To access citation information, you can use the menu in the top righthand side of the article preview. Depending on what citation style your teacher requires, you may have to use the dropdown menu to change the presented format. 

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.

By clicking into the Abstract/Details preview, you can access the database's full list of menu options. You can access citation information from this page as well.