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University of Portland Clark Library

Nursing & Health Innovations

Tips for Identifying Nursing Research

When you are looking at a citation for an article in CINAHL or MEDLINE, look at the following fields for clues to help you to determine which type of nursing research best describes your article:

Publication Type:  The Publication Type might indicate if your article is a research article, a review article, or it might specify certain types of research (such as meta-analysis).

Major Subjects / Minor Subjects / MeSH Terms:  Subject terms often provide insight into the research methods utilized in the article, and may identify specific types of nursing research (such as quality improvement or meta-analysis).

Abstract:  Words and phrases in the abstract will often reveal if the article is a research or review article, or indicate the research methods used by the authors.

Article Citation from CINAHL

CINAHL citation screen capture

Tips for Searching for Types of Nursing Research

See strategies for limiting your search to specific types of nursing research:

Quality Improvement / Quality Assurance   |  Peer-reviewed Quantitative Research   |   Peer-reviewed Qualitative Research  |   Systematic Review   |   Meta Analysis

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