This guide will introduce you to Gleeson Library resources that are essential for graduate nursing students. It includes links to select databases, as well as tutorials and guides.
For a complete list of library resources for the RN to MSN student, see the Nursing: RN to MSN guide.
Searching the Library Catalog
Find books and more in the library catalog. This brief video will demonstrate a simple keyword search in the library's catalog.
Library Catalog: Basic Search video
This brief video goes over how to do a simple keyword search in the library's catalog.
Home Delivery and Interlibrary Loan
For more information on delivery options, see our Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Pages.
Finding Articles: CINAHL
CINAHL, which stands for the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Research, is an essential tool for nurses, nursing students, and nurse researchers. CINAHL is your first choice for nursing research because it includes articles from hundreds of nursing journals.
Introduction to Searching CINAHL
There are a few tricks that can make searching CINAHL easier and less frustrating- watch this quick video to learn those tricks!
Connect to CINAHL
- CINAHL Ultimate
CINAHL Complete is the world's most comprehensive nursing & allied health research database.
More CINAHL Resources
A printable guide to searching CINAHL, advanced search tutorials, and more in our CINAHL Resources Guide
Finding Articles: PubMed
PubMed is another essential database for nursing and health sciences research. PubMed contains information about millions of articles from thousands of biomedical journals.
Accessing the Full Text
PubMed only contains information about articles, not the actual articles. To access the full text of articles you find in PubMed, use USF's Full Text Finder icon. Watch this brief video on using Full Text Finder.
Search PubMed
- PubMed
PubMed provides access to more than 23 million bibliographic citations primarily drawn from MEDLINE, as well as publisher-supplied citations, in-process and "ahead-of-print" citations.
More PubMed Resources
A printable guide to searching PubMed, advanced search tutorials, MeSH tutorials, and more in our PubMed Resources Guide
Reading Scholarly Articles
Reading scholarly articles can be challenging, but like any other skill, does get easier with practice (and a few good strategies).
- Anatomy of a Scholarly ArticleThis resource, from NCSU Libraries, introduces users to the different parts of a scholarly article. Click on a section of the article to learn what it is, and how you can use it.
- Reading Scholarly LiteratureAn essay by Karen Rosenberg about how to get through dense, jargon-filled scholarly articles...and get something out of them!
Academic Writing
General grammar and writing books, as well as tools and resources to assist with writing literature reviews.
- Writing for Publication: The Essential Literature ReviewThis article, while originally directed at those writing for publication, provides a general overview of the literature review process.
- Synthesis MatrixA synthesis matrix is a tool that can help you keep your articles and thoughts organized during the review and writing process. There are many synthesis matrices on the web, this is just one example.
- Nurse turnover: A literature review. An example of a well written reviewIt's helpful to know what success looks like! This is an example of a well written nursing research literature review by Hayes and colleagues.
When Bad Grammar Happens to Good People by ISBN: 9781564147226Publication Date: 2004-05-01Some silly puns and alliteration, but mixed in with the humor is a great deal of very accessible information.
Writing for Publication in Nursing by Call Number: http://ignacio.usfca.edu/record=b1904920ISBN: 9780826118028Publication Date: 2010-06-01An excellent overview on the writing process- from getting started to submitting for publication.
Citing Sources: APA 7th Edition
Introduction to APA 7 In-Text Citations
APA 7th Edition References
Introduction to RefWorks
Connect to RefWorks
- RefWorks
RefWorks allows users to create personal databases to manage, store, and share the information citations/references. Users can automatically insert references from their database into their papers and generate formatted bibliographies and manuscripts in seconds. See our RefWorks Guide for information about creating accounts, adding references, and using add-ons.
