Hours during the regular
academic year. Reduced hours during breaks.
Fogler Library usually changes something (services, resources, locations) over breaks.
What's new at Fogler library.
Most library assignments involve many steps--selecting a topic,
searching databases, finding articles, printing or photocopying, reading,
and writing. Don't wait until everybody else is trying to do the same thing.
No library session before the assignment? For a good starting point, see the "My research is in:" portals
on the library home page.
Use the URSUS catalog
to find books, journal titles, and other items owned by URSUS libraries (University
of Maine,
other University of Maine System campuses, Bangor Public Library, Maine State libraries).
Search by journal title
Ignore the "Year" column
For this assignment: look only at listings for SERIALS
Evaluate Your Results BEFORE You Copy (or Print)
Printing and photocopying costs!
Your MaineCard permits $16 worth of "free" printing ($0.04/page) each
semester. Pay for excess printouts using campus funds.
Free printing funds don't carry over between semesters (but campus funds
do).
Photocopies cost $0.08/page (campus funds).
Journals (also called magazines, serials, or periodicals):
Use journal ARTICLES, not editorials, letters to the editor, or book
reviews.
Read the abstract for a quick summary of an article.
Other factors to consider:
Do you understand the article?
Is it really relevant?
Is it too short to contain anything useful, or so long that you'll
never finish reading it?
Use databases to find
citations or references to journal articles.
CINAHL is the most important database for nursing students.
For papers in introductory classes, try Academic Search Premier or other
general databases.
For specialized
databases about nursing, check the
nursing portal.
How to search a database
Document your research process--list the databases you used, the search terms
you tried, etc.
Try alternative terminology: NP as well as nurse
practitioner.
Try alternative spelling (British as well as American).
Truncate (use a wildcard) to get variations on a word: histor*
to find
historical, histories, history...
Don't drop too many letters when you truncate!
Use ANDs nursing and history
and ORs. nurse or nurses or nursing
Try combining ANDs, ORs, and truncation: nurs* and (biograph* or obituar*)
Find more references than you need.
Use limits, such as English language or "scholarly"
("peer reviewed") journals, to refine your
results.
on the library home page.
