Welcome to the DCTC Library's Practical Nursing subject guide. On this page you will find helpful information about the research and writing process, including links to help you evaluate and cite your sources.
The 2nd page has information about the resources in our library and how to find them using our catalog.
The 3rd page is a gateway to the Library's best online resources and web sites for nursing, including some tutorials for these resources.
Let's get started!
Abraham Lincoln famously said you shouldn't believe everything you read online. And 82% of all statistics are made up.
There's a lot of misinformation out there. Digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield developed the SIFT method to help students evaluate information and make better decisions about what sources to trust:
Stop
Investigate the source
Find better coverage
Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context
Here are more guides to help you evaluate sources of information:
- Criteria for Evaluating Information (Otis College of Art and Design)
- Evaluating Information (Johns Hopkins University)
- Evaluating Resources (UC Berkeley)
- Evaluating Sources of Information (Purdue University)
- Online Verification Skills with Mike Caulfield (YouTube)
There are different styles for citing the sources you use in your assignments, but science and medical writing usually requires APA (American Psychological Association) style. The Purdue Online Writing Lab has an excellent guide to using APA style, with lots of examples:
You can also go straight to the source:
Our catalog and databases provide citations for the books, videos, and articles you find in them. Just look for a link that says Cite or Citation, then select APA style. It's easy to copy and paste citations into your bibliography!
"Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment. It also includes the unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials."
This definition of plagiarism comes from page 1 of DCTC's Student Code of Conduct.
Citing your sources like this or in a bibliography is an essential part of the research process. It allows others to verify your information and gives credit to previous researchers and writers for their work.
The Center for Student Success offers tutoring to all DCTC students, including help with writing your paper and citing your sources. You can schedule an appointment by calling 651-423-8420 or visiting room 2-101.
Use our catalog, OneSearch, to find the books and videos on our shelves, plus ebooks and streaming videos.
The best way to begin your search is to enter one or two keywords on your topic. To narrow your results, use the Modify My Results options on the left side of the screen. You can also click on a relevant title and click on one of its subject headings to focus your search on that particular topic.
Please ask a librarian if you need help locating anything you find in our catalog.
If we don't have the book, video, or article you're looking for, you can request it via interlibrary loan (ILL) and it will come to you. It's easy! E-mail library@dctc.edu to let us know what you're looking for and we'll do the rest.
We have lots of books about nursing in our collection. Many of these are shelved in the RT call number range, but you'll find books about medicine and specific medical practices spread throughout the R ranges and anatomy and physiology books in the QM and QP ranges. Ask a librarian if you need help finding anything.
Here are just a few of our books about nursing:
Behind the circulation desk we have our Course Resources collection. These are books and videos that instructors have asked us to reserve for certain classes. Books for Practical Nursing courses include Understanding Medical Surgical Nursing, Neeb's Fundamentals of Mental Health Nursing, and Safe Maternity and Pediatric Nursing Care. Books on reserve must be used in the Library, except with permission from your instructor to check them out overnight. Ask a librarian if you're looking for one of these.
Reference books and online resources like Access Science, Britannica Academic, Gale eBooks, and Salem Online are great for improving your background knowledge on almost any topic. These resources also provide images and videos, which you can use to liven up your papers and presentations.
Access Science covers all kinds of health related topics, from addiction to zoonoses.
Our Salem Health collection includes these titles:
- Addictions, Substance Abuse & Alcoholism
- Adolescent Health & Wellness
- Aging
- Autoimmune Diseases Handbook & Resource Guide
- Cancer
- Community & Family Health Issues
- Dementia Handbook & Resource Guide
- Diabetes Handbook & Resource Guide
- Genetics and Inherited Conditions
- Infectious Diseases & Conditions
- Integrative, Alternative & Complementary Medicine
- Magill’s Medical Guide
- Nutrition
- Nutrition, Obesity & Eating Disorders Handbook & Resource Guide
- Principles of Health: Allergies and Immune Disorders
- Principles of Health: Anxiety and Stress
- Principles of Health: Depression
- Principles of Health: Diabetes
- Principles of Health: Nursing
- Principles of Health: Obesity
- Principles of Health: Pain Management
- Principles of Health: Prescription Drug Abuse
- Psychology & Behavioral Health
- Women’s Health
There are millions of full-text articles in our EBSCO, Gale, and ProQuest databases. The best way to begin your search is to enter one or two keywords on your topic. Each database is different, but there will be ways to limit and focus your results so that you find the most relevant and useful articles available.
Our EBSCO databases are an excellent place to start your search for magazine and journal articles. One of these databases, CINAHL Complete, provides full-text articles from more than 700 nursing and allied health journals and magazines.
Our Gale databases are another great place to find magazine and journal articles. One of these databases, Gale OneFile: Nursing and Allied Health, offers more than 10 million full-text articles, many of which are only cited in CINAHL.
Search more than 30 million citations from biomedical and life science sources with PubMed. Some citations include links to full-text content.
Search and explore scholarly literature with Google Scholar. Some citations include links to full-text content.
Please visit the Library or e-mail library@dctc.edu if you have any questions about our online resources or if you'd like help finding articles on your topic.
CINAHL Complete features full-text articles from more than 700 nursing and allied health journals and magazines and indexing for more than 6,500.
Gale OneFile: Nursing and Allied Health offers more than 10 million full-text articles, many of which are only cited in CINAHL. Coverage includes nursing.
ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Premium offers articles from more than 700 scholarly journals, more than 350 clinical training videos, reference materials, and evidence-based resources for nursing and allied health topics.
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition offers full-text articles from hundreds of nursing and allied health journals, covering pediatric nursing, critical care, mental health, nursing management, medical law, and more.
Gale Health and Wellness offers access to thousands of full-text medical periodicals, reference works, and multimedia.
Video tutorials:
Gale Health and Wellness - For Higher Ed Users
Gale Health and Wellness - Finding Trustworthy Medical Information
Here are just a few of the ebooks about nursing you'll find in our EBSCO eBook Collection:
Neeb's Mental Health Nursing, 5th ed.
Linda M. Gorman and Robynn Anwar, 2019
Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses, 19th ed.
April Hazard Vallerand, 2024
Lippincott Nursing Procedures, 9th ed.
Lippincott, 2023
Lippincott Visual Nursing: A Guide to Clinical Diseases, Skills, and Treatments, 3rd ed.
Debra Kantor, 2019
LearningExpress Library is an outstanding resource for academic and career development with hundreds of online tutorials, practice tests, and ebooks.
The Career Preparation center includes practice exams to help you prepare for the NCLEX-PN exam. You'll also find ebooks to help you with your job search, interviewing, networking, and workplace skills.
- American Nurses Association
- MedlinePlus
- Minnesota Board of Nursing
- Minnesota Licensed Practical Nurses Association
- National Association of Licensed Professional Nurses (NALPN)
- National Council of State Boards of Nursing
- National League for Nursing
- NursingWorld
- Physicians' Desk Reference / Prescribers' Digital Reference (PDR)