Infection Prevention & Control:Searching the Library Databases

April 2011

Centennial College Libraries

First Step

• Go to theCentennial College Libraries website at:

• http://library.centennialcollege.ca

• If you are outside the College network (at home) you will need to login with your student number and your PIN (last 4 numbers of your student number) at this point.

The following search examples are based on a case study

where an outbreak of s. aureus occurred in a hospital nursery.

Detailed Record View

Accessing Full Text

• The full text of articles from a database record come from a number of sources:– Library databases including ProQuest Nursing

and Allied Health, Science Direct, YourJournals@Ovid and Health Source Nursing Academic Edition

– Hard copy journals subscribed to by the Library – look for these on the Periodical Shelves

Accessing Full Text (cont.)

– Articles freely available on the Internet including collections such as BioMed Central and Directory of Open Access Journals

– If the Library doesn’t have the article, we can try getting it for you from another library however, please ask us at least two weeks in advance before you need the article, and even more time if the article will have to be mailed to you (if you can’t come to the Library to pick it up yourself).

Saving your Results

• You can print, download and, depending on the database, email the article to yourself.

• Many of the databases also have citation tools, sometimes in the email function, to help you format your article citation into APA style.

• You can also import the article citations from your database search into RefWorks, a bibliographic citation tool that can help you create a bibliography in APA format

The cite view provides the citation format for a number of styles:

Make sure you choose RefWorks when you are exporting a citation.

Other Databases

• Most of the other library databases such as Nursing & Allied Health Source and Academic OneFile work similarly to HeathSource Nursing/Academic Edition: these databases suggest subject headings based on your keyword, you can limit to scholarly articles and by date, and you have the option of limiting your search to full text articles only. Use the help screens if needed.

Science Direct

• ScienceDirect College Edition: Health and Life Sciences provides full text access from 1995 to the present for over 800 peer-reviewed journals in health and life sciences including biology, nursing, medicine, ecology and biotechnology.

• This database only includes journals issued by Elsevier, a publisher of scholarly and scientific books and journals. Therefore, all the articles in this database are scholarly.

• The following slides provide tips for searching Science Direct.

Click on the title of an article or the “Show Preview” icon to view its abstract.

You can download the article in PDF format and export the citation to RefWorks (unlike the other databases, Science Direct does not email articles with APA citations).

Chose RefWorks Direct Export if you are sending your article citation to RefWorks in ScienceDirect:

Helpful Links

• How to Find Articles:Search Assistance Guide: includes more database searching tips including how to connect ideas.

• Research and Writing Help: includes research tips, links to APA style and help on avoiding plagiarism.

• RefWorks: includes links to RefWorks tutorials. • Searching the CINAHL Database: another

PowerPoint presentation (from a nursing perspective, so some points may not apply to you).

Contact Us

• Science and Technology Centre Library: (416) 289-5000 ext. 8000

• library.centennialcollege.ca/ask (links to AskON Online Chat Research service and AsktheLibrary email)

• Gail Alexander • 416(289)-5000 ext. 8107 (STC Library) and ext 8607 (CCC Library)• galexand@centennialcollege.ca

Good Luck!

Ask for help if you need it.