Nursing Research: Literature Searching, Appraising, and APA 7 Citation

Vocabulary flashcards covering primary vs. secondary research, question-framing frameworks (PICO and SPIDER), literature search mechanics, health sciences databases, and APA 7 referencing guidelines.

Primary Research

Research involving original data collection and analysis, where researchers directly gather data from participants, samples, or datasets and describe their collection methods.

Secondary Research

The synthesis, interpretation, or summary of existing research evidence, typically using previously published articles and studies as its sample.

Secondary Analysis of an Existing Dataset

An analysis of previously collected data that still constitutes primary research when investigators undertake an original analysis to answer a new research question.

PICO

A question-structuring framework best suited for quantitative and intervention-focused research, standing for Population / Patient / Problem, Intervention or exposure, Comparison, and Outcome.

SPIDER

A question-structuring framework especially useful for qualitative and mixed-methods research questions, standing for Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research type.

Keywords

Natural language search terms and synonyms representing the vocabulary that authors use in their writing.

Subject Headings

Standardized, controlled indexing terms used by bibliographic databases to organize and categorize knowledge.

Boolean Operator: OR

A search operator used within concept blocks that broadens retrieval by returning records containing any of the specified search terms.

Boolean Operator: AND

A search operator used between distinct concept blocks that narrows retrieval by requiring all connected concepts to appear in the results.

Truncation

A database search technique using an asterisk symbol on a word stem (e.g., nurs*) to retrieve multiple ending variations from that same root.

Phrase Searching

A search strategy that encloses words within quotation marks (e.g., "mental health") to retrieve the exact sequence of words rather than each term separately.

CINAHL

A specialized database central to literature searching in nursing, allied health, nursing practice, and patient experiences.

MEDLINE/PubMed

A biomedical database essential for research in medicine, health sciences, biomedical fields, and clinical healthcare topics.

PsycINFO

A specialized bibliographic database suited for searching literature related to psychology, mental health, behaviour, cognition, and psychosocial phenomena.

Cochrane Library

A healthcare database particularly valuable for locating systematic reviews, intervention evidence, and controlled clinical trials.

Eligibility Criteria

Predetermined inclusion and exclusion rules (spanning population, phenomenon, study type, setting, language, and date range) established to guide screening consistently.

Search Log

A systematic record documenting the database searched, search date, exact search strings/subject headings, limits applied, and number of results retrieved to ensure reproducibility.

Paraphrase (APA 7)

Restating an author's findings, ideas, or arguments in one's own words, cited in-text with the author surname(s) and year before the terminal punctuation.

Direct Quote (APA 7)

Reproducing an author's exact wording, requiring an in-text citation containing the author, publication year, and a specific page number or locator.

Common Knowledge

Information that is widely recognized or easily verifiable that typically does not require an academic citation; when in doubt, citation is required.

Narrative Citation

An APA in-text citation format in which the author's name is incorporated into the sentence structure, followed immediately by the year in parentheses.

Parenthetical Citation

An APA in-text citation format where both author surname(s) and publication year are enclosed entirely within parentheses at the end of a clause or sentence.

Multiple Sources Citation (APA 7)

An in-text citation rule requiring two or more distinct sources inside the same parentheses to be separated by semicolons and listed alphabetically by first author.