Comprehensive Study Notes on Galen College of Nursing Library Resources and Essay Planning

Introduction to Essay Planning and the Road Trip Analogy

• Presenter: Mackenzie Escamilla, instructor of GPS and English at Galen College of Nursing.
• Anecdote: In the summer of $2021$, Mackenzie planned an "epic road trip" from the Texas Panhandle to the northernmost part of New York State, approximately $50\,\text{miles}$ from Canada, to visit her sister and her sister's child (whom she had not seen since the child was $18$ old).
• Planning Requirements:     * Determining the total distance and driving duration.     * Identifying nightly stopping points and daily limits.     * Vehicle maintenance (oil change and tire checks).     * Financial budgeting for both directions of the trip.     * Mapping specific routes to visit new locations within the United States.
• Analogy to Writing: Escamilla compares this travel planning to the process of planning an essay.     * Students will write dozens of essays during their college careers.     * Key considerations include assignment instructions, intended messaging, and "stops" (major points) to be made along the way.     * Principle: A more detailed plan and time investment before writing results in an easier drafting process.

Navigating the Galen College of Nursing Library Website

• The Librarian Team: Jessica Zhang, Carol Byerly Stevens, Mercy Cooper, and Joe Price.
• Access Steps:     * 1. Visit the Galen College of Nursing website.     * 2. Click the icon with the three lines (menu).     * 3. Select "Current Students."     * 4. Select "Library and Resources."
• Alternative Access: The library Getting Started page can be reached via any Galen course in Canvas via the left-hand navigation menu or directly at galen.libguides.com/gettingstarted.

Essential Library Resources and Workshop Collections

• How to Search the Library Databases Collection: A curated set of videos and PowerPoints designing to walk users through searching for articles, e-books, and more. Recommended for new users or those needing a refresher.
• Library Workshop Calendar: Lists upcoming live events on topics such as APA style, Academic Writer, and database search strategies.
• Past Library Workshop Guide: A repository of recordings and accompanying PowerPoints for students unable to attend live sessions.
• Program Orientation Guides: Specialized guides for each program containing quick links to APA resources, Academic Writer, and databases. These are not exhaustive but provide foundational links.
• Subject-Specific Guides:     * Math, dosage calculations, and standardized lab values.     * College mathematics resources.     * General FAQs and nursing board websites.
• Database Help Tab: Provides tutorials for specific platforms including EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and ScienceDirect.

Textbook Access and the Galen Booklist

• Textbooks Tab: Navigates to the Booklist Guide.
• The Booklist: Identifies required books and resources for specific courses.
• Usage Guidelines:     * Users must read the introductory paragraphs for symbol meanings and discount codes.     * Books must be accessed via the provided links.     * Open Access: Some books are free to view online.     * Purchased Textbooks: Many books must be bought; while the library has e-books, it does not typically carry required textbooks in its collection.

APA Style and Academic Writer

• APA Citation Style Guide: Provides instructions on citing, referencing, and formatting coursework. Galen officially utilizes the APA format.
• Citing in Canvas Tab: Includes a specific video on formatting discussion posts in APA, along with a template and instructions for citing Canvas course items.
• Academic Writer Software:     * Registration: Users must use their Galen email address and follow a specific setup video on the Academic Writer guide homepage.     * Functionality: Divided into three portions: Learn, Reference, and Write.     * Tutorials: The library provides video tutorials for each section of the software.

EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS): Features and User Interface

• Definition: EDS is a "OneSearch" tool that simultaneously searches major library resources, including journals and e-books, to save time.
• Location: The main search bar at the top of the Library's Getting Started page.
• Authentication: Requires Galen email credentials via OpenAthens. A verification code via text or phone may be required. Authentication software saves a cookie for future visits.
• Exclusions (Specialty Databases): EDS does not search Academic Writer, Nursing Reference Center Plus, or Smart Image Base. These must be accessed directly.
• The PICO Search Widget:     * Designed for nursing intervention questions.     * PICO(T) Elements: Problem/Population/Patient ($P$), Intervention ($I$), Comparison ($C$), Outcome ($O$), and Time/Type ($T$).     * The widget provides fields for these elements to guide relevant search results.
• Concept Map: A visual searching tool that allows users to navigate topics and explore relationships between concepts.
• Publication Finder: Used to search or browse specific journals (e.g., searching for journals containing the word "nursing").

Advanced Search Strategies and Boolean Operators

• Boolean Operators: Used to define logical relationships between search terms.     * AND: Requires all terms to be present in the record. This limits/narrows results ($\text{e.g., honey AND wound care}$).     * OR: Allows any of the terms to be present. This expands/broadens results ($\text{e.g., honey OR Manuka}$).     * NOT: Excludes records containing specific terms. This limits results ($\text{e.g., honey NOT sugar}$).
• Truncation and Wildcards:     * Use the asterisk ($*$) symbol to search for spelling variations ($\text{e.g., nurs*}$ searches for nurse, nurses, and nursing).
• Phrase Searching: Use quotation marks to search for words in a specific side-by-side order ($\text{e.g., "wound care"}$).
• Limiters (Filters):     * Full Text: Limits results to articles available in full within the Galen collection. Preselected by default in EDS.     * Scholarly (Peer Reviewed): Limits results to articles that underwent a review process before publication. Preselected by default in EDS.     * Publication Date: Recommended limit for nursing is the most recent $5\,\text{years}$ ($\text{e.g., } 2019\text{ to } 2024$) to ensure evidence-based practice is current.     * Subject Headings: Tags assigned by databases to describe what an article is about. More specific than keyword searches.     * Source Type: Often limited to "Academic Journals" for assignments.

Managing Searches and My EBSCO Dashboard

• Personalized Accounts: Users can create a free My EBSCO account to save searches and articles in project folders.
• Persistence: Articles and searches in the "recent activity" list will be lost if the browser is closed or the database times out unless they are saved to a specific folder while logged in.
• Alerts: Users can set up journal or search alerts to receive notifications when new research on a topic is published.
• Persistent Links (Permalinks): Shareable URLs for articles ($\text{starting with https:research.ebsco.com}$). Users must re-authenticate with credentials to use these later.
• Backups: Librarians recommend downloading, emailing, and printing documents or citations as backups in case technology fails.

Evaluating Research and Levels of Evidence

• Primary Research: Original work where authors conducted an experiment. Often follows JARS (Journal Article Reporting Standard).     * Standard Sections: Introduction, Methods, Results/Findings, Discussion, and Conclusion.
• Secondary Sources: Reviews of existing literature. Includes literature reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses.
• Tertiary (Third Level) Sources: Information compiled from other sources without synthesis or review. These are the lowest level of evidence and are generally not considered scholarly ($\text{e.g., textbooks, drug guides, dictionaries, handbooks}$).
• Distinction: To determine the article type, check the title, abstract, subject headings, or read the introduction/methods. If sections like "Methods" are missing, it is likely a literature review.

Understanding Database Records and Retrieval

• Detailed Record: Contains bibliographic data needed for APA citations.     * DOI (Digital Object Identifier): A unique internet address for an article on a publisher's site.     * ISSN (International Standard Serial Number): An $8$-digit code identifying serial publications like journals.     * Accession Number: A unique one-to-one identifier for an article in a database record.
• Full Text Finder: A service that provides links to non-EBSCO platforms (such as ScienceDirect or ProQuest) to view an article's full text.
• PubMed IDs (PMID): Identifiers for articles available through the PubMed service, which can be searched in EDS.
• Journal Databases at Galen:     * CINAHL Ultimate: Primary nursing research database.     * Ovid with Full Text: Indexes over $70$ online journals ($\text{e.g., American Journal of Nursing, Nursing Made Incredibly Easy}$).     * mCare: Part of Ovid; contains only citations/bibliographic records (no full text).     * ScienceDirect College Edition: Access to Elsevier nursing journals ($\text{e.g., Nurse Education Today, Journal of Professional Nursing}$).     * Other Platforms: ProQuest, LWW Health Library.

Questions & Discussion

• Question from Mackenzie Escamilla: Is there anything specific students should know regarding Galen and database searching?
• Response from Joe Price: Price emphasizes that librarians cannot cover everything in one sitting and encourages students to utilize the library as a service they have already paid for via tuition. He notes there are four librarians across Galen campuses ready to assist.
• Question regarding timing: How soon should an online student reach out if they have a Sunday deadline?
• Response from Joe Price: Ideally, students should reach out as soon as possible. While librarians often deal with "eleventh-hour" requests, some complex questions require research or external consultation. Price notes that librarians take "all comers," but lead time is beneficial.
• Librarian Availability: Librarians are accessible via email, phone, live chat (bottom right widget), Zoom appointments, and a support ticket system (which guarantees a response within $48\,\text{hours}$).