• Home
• Information Resources
• Research Assistance
• Library Services
• Library Catalog
• About the Library

Nursing Program

Prof. N. Sutera

October 18, 2006

Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library

Susan B. Kurzmann

skurzman@ramapo.edu

 I. Library Homepage: http://library.ramapo.edu

   Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, interlibrary loan forms, etc.

II. Finding Books at the Potter Library

• Catalog: Use this to find books, periodical titles (NOT articles ), government documents, reserve items, music, and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. This may take a few seconds to load.

• In Basic Search, search the catalog using Keywords to find material
  • For example: search for nursing or nurses to locate a broad range of material and look for ideas for your project

 

• Also in Basic Search, use the Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress (LC) subject heading, for example:

• Nursing--Social aspects
• Nursing--Practice--United States
• Industrial nursing
• American Nurses Association

OR

• Go to Advanced Search
  • The Boolean search terms are built in for your use
    • AND: you are commanding the system to search for material that addresses both terms you've entered
    • OR: you are commanding the system to search for material on either of the search terms you have entered
    • NOT: you are commanding the system to search for material on the first term you have entered and to exclude any material on the second term you have entered
  • The catalog system will provide more focused results

 

               Tips

1. Start with broad searches. It is much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
2. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Related Records tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
3. Can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record

 III. Reference Material

• The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).

Cross Section of Nursing Research: Journal Articles for Discussion and Evaluation	Ref RT81.5 .C76 2005
Encyclopedia of Nursing Research	Ref RT81.5 .E53 1998
Foundations of Nursing Theory: Contributions of 12 Key Theorists	Ref RT84.5 .F68 1995
The Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing & Allied Health	Ref RT21 .G353 2002
Mosby's Medical Dictionary	Ref R121 .M89 2006

IV. Electronic Resources

• Some useful Databases for finding articles:

• Choose database you would like to search
  • By subject

OR

• By using the alphabetic list: Title Directory (A-Z)

• Journal Finder : determine if a journal is available full-text online, in print in the library, or available on microfilm       

V.  Websites

• Subject Resources : See Nursing/Medical Resources

 

• For Internet searching, use the library's link to Evaluating Websites t o determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper

VI. Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan: allows students to borrow a book or article that the Potter library does not own. There is a link from the Journal Finder page.

VII. Preparing Bibliographies

• Use Citing Sources and Print Sources for examples of "In-Text Citations" and "Works Cited"
• Style handbooks are located at the circulation desk
• Or, use Diana Hacker Online
• Follow the examples for the citation style requested

Need more help? Visit or call the Reference Desk: 201.684.7574

Q&A New Jersey  Reference assistance when there is no reference librarian available