What is Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition?

This database offers almost 550 scholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines. Nearly 450 of these journals are peer-reviewed. Abstracts and indexing are offered for nearly 850 journals. Full-text documents are offered dating back to 1975.

What information is available on Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition?

Subject coverage includes nursing and allied health. Clinical Pharmacology (offering access to the Lexi-PAL Drug Guide and other information) is included.

How do I search Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition?

There are three main ways of searching the Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition database: Basic, Advanced, and Visual.

Basic Search:

The Basic Search is a Keyword Search. To conduct a Keyword Basic Search, type a word or topic in the empty box. For example, you can type in Hepatitis.

If you want, at this point you can click on the "Search" button. If you search at this point, you will get abstracts back from all time periods covered by the database. You will also get full-text articles if any are available.

Alternatively, before searching, you can refine your search by setting limits. First, click on the link under the empty box titled "Search Options." Different limiters and search options will appear. For example, if you click on the box labeled "Full Text", only full-text articles and documents will be included in your search results. In addition, you can expand your search by clicking next to the box entitled "Apply related words," which causes the database to also search for words related to the words you used.

You can browse or search for a particular subject term. These subject terms are already created by the database. Use the subject search to help you identify the subject terms the database uses for more effective searching. To search for subjects, click on "Subjects" at the top left of the screen, next to "New Search."

You can browse or search for specific publications, such as journals. Publications are alphabetically listed. To search for publications, click on "Publications" at the top left of the screen, next to "Subjects."

You can search for images by clicking on "Images" at the top of the screen, next to "Publications." You can limit the type of image you want in the "Limit your results" section to charts, color photographs, graphs, etc.

A Medical Dictionary Basic Search is available, which allows you to look up the definitions of medical terms in Merriam-Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary. Click on "Medical Dictionary" on the blue bar at the top of the screen and type a medical term into the box. I typed in "chicken pox."

Advanced Search:

The Advanced Search is very similar to the Basic Search. The main difference is that the Keyword Advanced Search offers different options to search under. There are three boxes to enter terms into. To the right of these boxes are drop-down menus. You can select: TX All Text, AU Author, TI Title, SU Subject Terms, AB Abstract or Author-Supplied Abstract, KW Author-Supplied Keywords, GE Geographic Terms, SO Publication name, IS ISSN, IB ISBN, and AN Accession Number.

For example, if you wanted to search for Hepatitis treatments in a nursing journal with the term 'blood' in the text, you could search for Hepatitis in the Title field, Nursing in the Journal Name field, and Blood in the All Text field. If you only want full-text articles, you can check the full text box.

During your Advanced Search, if you wish to view your search and result history, click on the Search History/Alerts link below the "Select a Field" boxes.

Visual Search:

Visual Search may be available to you through your library. Visual Search is a visual way to find what you are looking for. For example, click on the "Visual Search" link under the search boxes and type the word 'Hepatitis' into the search field. The results show up as a column of multiple subheadings; for example, Hepatitis C virus, Liver-Disease, Letters to the Editor, etc. If you select one (for example, Liver-Diseases), narrower sub-topics are listed. The choices get more and more specific until you arrive at an article. The information for this article is listed in the green box on the right-hand side. Articles are also listed in the green boxes below each column of sub-categories.

This page was created by Kyla Kothman in Spring 2007.
This page was revised by Iantha Haight in Spring 2009.
INF 382S: Library Instruction and Information Literacy, taught by Dr. Loriene Roy
School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin