Rita Barsun

Do you know which database(s) to choose when searching for information about your research topic? Do you know why it is advisable to search only one database at a time? Do you know what to do if an article you identify is not available online? Do you know what to do if you can’t get into the databases?

For answers to those and other pressing library-related questions, consult the Walden Library Web site or put your Walden Library team to the test: Contact us at waldenlb@waldenu.edu,  800-437-0501, or 812-855-6028.

Which database(s) to select and why to search only one at a time:
http://www.lib.WaldenU.edu/drc/whichdatabase.htm

What to do if the article you want isn’t online:
http://www.lib.WaldenU.edu/photo.html

Where to turn if you can’t access the databases:
http://www.lib.WaldenU.edu/dbhelp.html

By the way, do you know when we are in the office?
http://www.lib.WaldenU.edu/tour/ask.html

The Quest for Online Articles

First, though, a word from your sponsor . . .

Please, please, please, do NOT limit your research to what you can easily obtain online. Doing so deprives you of the experience of immersing yourself in the scholarly literature. Take the time and effort to obtain print copies of articles and other documents that are relevant to your research. After all, graduate students are supposed to suffer! Besides, the Walden Library super sleuths will do all they can to help you track down those elusive materials.

Linked Full Text
If you see “Linked Full Text,” “PDF Full Text,” or “HTML Full Text” after the citation for an article in the list of results, you will be able to access the actual article online. If one of those links does not accompany the article you so strongly desire, don’t despair (yet). To your surprise and delight, the article may be in the ProQuest Nursing Journals database.

The ProQuest Nursing Journals (PQNJ): Not Just for Nurses
Despite the name, PQNJ covers a range of disciplines, not just the literature of nursing. In fact, almost anyone in Health and Human Services can find relevant items in this database.

There is a link to the ProQuest Nursing Journals (PQNJ) in the third column of the Online Databases page. PQNJ is primarily a tool for obtaining resources rather than for identifying them. Please bear with me, as this will take some explaining.

The full-text PQNJ journals are indexed in CINHAL, MEDLINE, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, but there is no “Linked Full Text” feature to take you to the journals even if the articles are available. So, what is a poor struggling graduate student to do?

The A-to-Z Online Journal Finder to the Rescue!
Before you give up, return to the Online Databases page, click on the A-to-Z Online Journal Finder near the bottom of the first column, and search A-to-Z for the journal you want. If you aren’t sure how to search A-to-Z, follow this guide.

In a perfect world, there would be a link directly from A-to-Z into the nursing journals. Alas! This is not a perfect world. Instead, you then have to access PQNJ and search for the journal article.

As we know, this world is truly imperfect. Students are currently experiencing problems as they try to access PQNJ. We do have a workaround: the “ProQuest Fred Durst” link at the very bottom of the Online Databases page. The username is fred and the password is durst.

To whet your appetite for using A-to-Z, here are a few examples of journals that are not linked from CINAHL or MEDLINE (or other EBSCO databases) but are really and truly available online:

• American Journal of Epidemiology, 2000 until six months ago
• British Journal of Social Work, 1999 to one year ago
• Community Mental Health Journal, 1996 to one year ago
• Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, 1995 to 1998
• Journal of Multicultural Nursing and Health, 1998 to one month ago
• Mental Health Review, 2003 to present

By the way, don’t forget to turn to the A-to-Z Online Journal Finder after searching the CSA databases (Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts).

Oh yes. I must not forget to remind you to check A-to-Z before you submit a request to the Document Delivery Service. Why waste your time and effort submitting a request when the article you want is already available to you in a Walden Library database?

When PQNJ and A-to-Z Fail You
As I said, the Walden Library super sleuths stand ready to assist: waldenlb@waldenu.edu; 800-437-0501, 812-855-6028.

Clarification to September’s Library Corner
You can have limited access to the Web of Science through the publicly accessible American Journal of Public Health Web site: http://www.ajph.org/.

Many articles published between January 2003 and June 2005 will offer you some or all of these options. Sadly, articles published earlier than 2003 have only one option: Cited by other online articles. The instructions below have been revised to make it easier for you to find a helpful example:

1. Click the “Issues Past and Present” link on the AJPH home page.
2. Select the year “2003” from the “Full Text and Abstracts” blocks, immediately under the images of the covers from the Current Issue.
3. Select the “May: 93(5): 698-845” issue.
4. Click the “Public Health Matters” link.
5. Click on the “Abstract” link for the first article: “The Health of Men: Structured Inequalities and Opportunities.”
6. Note your options in the right column under the “Services” heading. The last item will be “Search for citing articles in ISI Web of Science,” followed by the number of citing articles in parentheses.
7. Click the “ISI Web of Science” link and enjoy yourself.

Check other articles published between 2003 and 2005 to see whether you would like to use the Web of Science to learn who has cited them.

Questions? Problems? Laments? Please contact your friendly library lady, Rita Barsun, at library@waldenu.edu or 812-856-6705, or ask for me at 800-437-0501.