Nursing Guide for Undergraduates

Start with the simple search box. As an example, search for childhood obesity and diet.

Click on the OneSearch button to begin the search. Note that your result list is extensive. 

Before exploring your results, consider refining your result list to achieve a more succinct list. You may choose to limit to peer-reviewed literature and/or creation (publication) date so that you see a result list of high quality materials that are more recent.

If you need to keep refining, click on the title of a record that appears applicable to your research. Once in the record, scroll down to find the subject headings. 

You will see "Subject" and then a list of subject headings in blue.

If you see a subject heading representative of your topic, you can click on it or return to the UNF library homepage and opt to search in Advanced mode. Here, you will have the option to toggle from keyword to search by subject or keyword. 

Note that searching by a combination of keyword and subject heading will significantly reduce the number of results and may yield the most succinct result list based on your interests. 

Searching by subject headings and/or subject headings and keywords reduces the search results and may present you with a more succinct result list.

Your professor may want you to search using the PICOT method. 

What is PICO(T)

  Image Reused with permission of Hawaii Pacific University

Formulating a PICOT Question

Formulating a PICOT question is the first step in the process of carrying out a focused literature review and analysis of evidence.

PICOT is an acronym for the elements of the clinical question: a way of asking a clinical question that will help guide the search for evidence.

P = Patient population of interest: Identify patients by age, gender, ethnicity, disease or health problem

I = Intervention of interest (can also be issue of interest that has no comparison): Which intervention is worthwhile to use in practice? Which issue is studied (e.g. a treatment, diagnostic test, prognostic factor)?

C = Comparison of interest (you do not always have a comparison): What is the usual standard of care or current intervention used now in practice?

O = Outcome: What results do you wish to achieve or observe as a result of an intervention (e.g. change in patient behavior, physical findings, patient perception)?

T = Time (you do not always have a time frame): What amount of time is needed for an intervention to achieve an outcome (e.g. the amount of time needed to change quality of life or patient behavior)?

Tips: Try to define your topic using the acronym PICOT.

Thinks about: What Question am I asking?

Ask Yourself: What would be the perfect article title? 

Insert your PICOT accordingly:

In __________(P), what is the effect of _________(I) on_____________ (O) compared with ___________(C) within______________ (T)?

Ask yourself: What are the synonyms for my P, I, C, O, T? You will want to search databases trying various synonyms so you exhaust your search.

Ask yourself: What nursing databases will I use for my research?