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Nursing Study Skills: Information Sources

Basic Search Guide

Basic Search Guide for Nursing & Health Sciences

This guide offers support using the best information sources for literature searching including books, journals and web resources

Search help - search tips and video guides to literature searching using Discovery and database searching

You can also book 1-2-1 literature search support here

Reading lists

Start by using your course reading list to access essential and recommended reading for your modules including books, e-books, journals and web resources. Help using your reading list

Discovery searching for books and journals

This video demonstrates how to do a basic Discovery search for books and journal articles. 

 A-Z of Journals - Searching for individual journals

Subject guides

Subject guides provide an overview of resources specific to your area of study including

  • Books and journals
  • Databases and websites
  • Videos and images

Find your subject guide

Web resources

  • TRIP (Turning Research into Practice) - high quality evidence for practitioners
  • NHS Choices - information for service users
  • NICE - the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Includes guidance, standards and evidence. 
  • NHS Acronym Buster - contains over a thousand commonly used healthcare abbreviations. 
  • Evidently Cochrane - a blog from Cochrane making Cochrane evidence accessible 
  • BMJ Learning - enter "free modules in the search box to access high quality continuing education for health professionals
  • Journal TOCS - journal alerting service

TIP!  Use Google with caution. Unless you are using a trusted academic, government or organization web site you will need to evaluate your information for accuracy, authenticity and currency.

Attribution

All images included in this guide are available from Upsplash through Creative Commons licensing CC-BY-2.0