This page is an overview of the role of articles and how to find them.
If you need help with basic searching, contact your liaison librarian for 1-on-1 help, or use the guide Search Basics for the Health Sciences.
The following electronic resources (or databases) are the most appropriate places to start looking for articles.
For a full list of databases see: Nursing Databases
Books are great resources for finding a broad overview of a topic, basic information or historical information. If you need to understand a specific nursing theory or read about a key figure in nursing history, a book would be a good resource. A book would not be an appropriate resource if you needed information about the most recent treatment for a disease or condition.
Articles are typically more specific and current. If you have a very narrow topic such as 'alarm fatigue among nurses', or if you need the most recent information on a disease, condition, drug, etc., articles are the best resources. It takes years to write and publish a book, meaning that by the time a book gets published, its contents may already be out of date. It is important to keep this in mind as you select the resource type at the beginning of an assignment or research process.
If you already have a citation you can use the following link.
Find Full Text Articles
If you are searching within a database, try using the 
button.
Having Problems?
Help Sheets and Tutorials Page
We have several printable help sheets and brief (5 min.) video tutorials that you can use to guide you through database and library searching.
If we don't have an item or article you need we have a service called Interlibrary Loan that will help find it in another library and get it for you. Distance education students may also use this service to request delivery of Laupus Library materials.
Interlibrary Loan for more information.
