CINAHL Basics
Search Box
Field Searching
Search Concepts
Putting It All Together
Result Display
Refining Results with Limits
Accessing Articles (Online or Print)
Saving Results
Learn More
The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) is an online database that allows you to search the bibliographic records of journal articles, books and book chapters, pamphlets, CE materials, and even web sites using single words or word phrases. Nursing is the prime focus of the CINAHL database, but Allied Health, Biomedicine, Consumer Health, and Alternative/Complementary Medicine are also well represented.
Using keywords is the broadest way of searching and often times can result in a large number of citations. Use keyword searching when you
- are searching for an esoteric topic
- just want to see how much has been written on the topic
- don’t know what specific search terms to use to narrow the topic
- are just beginning your search
Note: NU386 students must first apply filters to their search before following the steps below.
Search Box
When you enter a keyword or word phrase in the search boxes and utilize the default fields selection, CINAHL will only look for these words within the Title, Abstract, and Subject Heading fields of each record. If you are searching for an article by its author, you must click on the drop down arrow and select Author from the list of available fields.
Field Searching
Searching in only certain fields is a useful way to locate very specific information. A good use of field searching is when you are looking for a specific author or trying to verify that a citation is correct.
For example, you know that the author Yeaworth wrote an article about Dementia but you do not recall the name of the journal, the year, or the page numbers. Click on the pull down menus to the right of the search box. You will have the option of selecting which field you want CINAHL to search.
Search Concepts
Truncation/Wildcard
When keyword searching, the terms you enter in the search box are cross checked against the exact spelling of the terms in the Title, Abstract, and Subject Headings. If you enter the term nurse or nurses, for instance, and the citation record only contains the term nursing, you will not retrieve that record. To ensure that terms with various endings are retrieved, use a truncation or wildcard symbol (*). For example:
nurs* retrieves nurse, nurses, and nursing
diabet* retrieves diabetes, diabetic, diabetics, etc.
Boolean Operators
The default search page consists of three search boxes. It is recommended that each concept (which may include multiple synonyms) be placed in a separate search box. With an individual concept in its own search box, you can then combine it with other concepts. Combining terms within a search box or between search boxes requires use of the conjunctions or Boolean Operators AND or OR.
- OR broadens your search – gives you more results
- Use OR to combine synonyms of the same concept
- Use OR when you will accept any of the terms for the concept
- Example: breast cancer OR breast neoplasms
- Example: diabetes OR heart disease
- AND narrows your search - gives you fewer results
- Use AND to combine different concepts
- Use AND when every term must show up in the article
- Example: breast cancer AND drug therapy
- NOT eliminates a concept from a search. It is not used for general searching purposes.
Putting It All Together
Step 1: Defining Concepts
Example: JD is a 55 year old male who is recovering from a spinal injury. He is currently immobilized and will be for several months. You have been asked to locate information on positioning an immobilized patient to prevent pressure ulcers.
What terms or phrases should you use to search?
- positioning
- prevention of pressure ulcers
Note: When choosing concepts, try to eliminate those which could be considered implied through the use of another concept. For instance, immobilized could be implied within the pressure ulcer concept because pressure ulcers often occur due to immobilization. Also, adding spinal injury to our search would eliminate possibly helpful articles that cover other immobile conditions.
Step 2: Term/Phrase Searching
The search interface includes three separate search boxes. If there are any concepts which you will be ORing together, place them in the same box and separate them with OR. Place the ANDed concept in the other boxes. To run the search, click the Search button.
Note: Pressure ulcers can also be referred to as pressure sores, bedsores, and decubitus ulcer. To ensure that you retrieve articles that use these varying phrases, separate them with OR. Also remember to truncate (e.g. pressure ulcer* OR pressure sore* OR bedsore* OR decubitus ulcer*).
This search statement will retrieve results with positioning and its variations, at least one of the pressure ulcer terms, and prevention and its variations.
Result Display
CINAHL indexes various publication types, such as journal, books, and videos. If your results contain these different types, they will be listed at the top of the result list. To narrow your results down to a specific type, simply click the type. You can also narrow your results further by selecting the suggested subject headings located on the left-hand side of the result list.
From the initial result list, you will be able to view the majority of the record's details, including the abstract if available. Some records include a link to the article's cited reference list and the number of times the article was cited by other articles within the CINAHL database.
To view the full record, click on the title of the record item.
In addition to the information in the initial results screen, the subject headings will be displayed. Subject headings are assigned to each record. They describe the topic of the article. Major Subjects are those which describe the primary topic of the article, while Minor Subjects are peripheral topics.
Refining Results with Limits (Optional)
The Limit feature allows you to refine your results in a variety of ways. Limits may be applied using the "Advanced Search" option before or after a search has been run. Always be cautious when applying limits, as you may inadvertently block out relevant results.
A variety of limit options are available. The most used limits are:
- Published Date
- Language
- Peer Reviewed
- Research Article
- Journal Subset (can limit to Nursing publications only)
Note: When beginning a new search, you must undo all limits.
Accessing Articles (Online or Print)
From within a results set, you can search and access the library's entire online journal collection and check for print holdings.
Full-text linked directly to record
If you see any of these symbols and links, the article will be immediately available upon clicking them.
Search online/print journal collections
If a full-text link does not appear in a record, you will see a link labeled Check Here For Full Text. By clicking this link, you will be able to search the library's complete online journal collection, search the library's print journal collection, and order an article if it is not available.
Check Here For Full Text
After you click the Check Here For Full Text link, a window will open with one or more of the following choices:
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Choice A: If a link appears, it will take you either directly to the article or to the journal contents page where you must browse for the issue and article. |
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Choice B: If there is no online article, click the Catalog link to find out if the library has the journal in print. |
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Choice C: If there is no online or print article, clicking this link will take you to the Interlibrary Loan / Photocopy order form (Note: You must register if you are a first time user of this form) |
Note: Even though a full-text link appears, the article may still not be available online. This discrepancy is due to embargo dates placed by the publisher or if the library does not have access to a particular volume or issue in the journal. If you have any questions, please contact the library.
Saving Results
Results can be saved by printing, emailing, and saving to a computer or disk.
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In order to save results, you must add each citation to the Folder. Do this by clicking the Add to Folder link at the bottom of each citation you want to save. |
Once citations are added, the right sidebar will indicate that items are now in the Folder. Click Folder view to access the marked records.
Once inside the folder, the results will be listed and the choice to print, email, or save will appear above them.
Learn More
Focus your search with Subject Headings
