Left to Right: Aida Almanza-Ferro, and Lorin Flores.
We are the librarians for College of Education and Human Development, and the College of Nursing. We look forward to working with you! To contact us or to make an appointment:
Submit your request and we'll get right back to you!
Or, you can reach out directly. For our email addresses and phone numbers, see the list below:
Aida Almanza-Ferro | aida.almanza@tamucc.edu | 361-825-2356
Lorin Flores | lorin.flores@tamucc.edu | 361-825-2609
Librarians are available M-F, 8-5.
Take a moment to share your group topic on the Padlet below. Simply double-click on the page or click on the plus sign to post your topic. If you are still deciding on your topic, that's ok too!
Finding quality sources to inform your formative research
The library's website and associated resources are a good place to start your research into various health education and intervention programs and health data. There's also a great deal of information on the open web. Here are some broad categories to help you get started in terms of places to look:
What's a keyword?
It's really important to distill your topic down into searchable keywords. You might need to change your keyword language or spelling, or use specific symbols or connecting words to combine keywords to get the best results.
BOOLEAN OPERATORS
The three words that you can use to combine your search keywords most efficiently are: and, or, and not. Take a look at the image below to get a sense of how they work.
Two symbols you can also use to further refine your search keywords are "quotation marks" and the asterisk *.
"Quotation marks" searches for groups of words together. This works best if you are looking for a title or phrase.
Some databases or library resources use parentheses () to group words instead, or in cases of complex searches, to tell the search engine which elements to process first.
The asterisk * is usually found above the number eight on most keyboards. Use the asterisk * to abbreviate words so you can find all possible spelling variations in your search results. It will also make your search results increase, typically.
The NURS 4660 Course guide has many useful links for finding health data. Here are several suggested places to find health data:
Dr. Zeng recommends Elicit, an AI Research Assistant gen AI tool, for various workflows related to this assignment. Sign up for a free Elicit account to use unlimited summaries and chat (up to 4 papers at once) and more. Upload papers to store in Elicit or connect your Zotero account to use these features.
If you aren't one of Dr. Liwen Zeng's HCAD 3360 students, check-in with your course instructor if you are unsure about their expectations about using AI tools in their classes to avoid violating any academic integrity rules!
Watch a short Youtube tutorial from Dr. Andy Stapleton demonstrating the basics of using Elicit for literature searches and reviews below:
The library's website and associated resources are a good place to start searching, especially for content that you can't get access to on the open web. Here are some recommended places to begin your search:
LIBRARY QUICK SEARCH
Library Quick Search - searches through all the library's resources, print, online, and media, and includes content that's normally inaccessible behind paywalls for the general public. Use the search box below to access Quick Search or start at the library's homepage.
SELECTED LIBRARY DATABASES
Take a look at the selected professional databases and websites listed below. Or explore the entire Nursing and Health Sciences database list from the library's website.
Note: As a TAMUCC student you have access to library databases for a full year (365 days) after you graduate or leave TAMUCC.
SEARCH WEB SITES
Searching for content on the web. Google and Google Scholar are favorites, but you might want to consider other sites like USA.gov. PUBMED is listed as a library database but is an online site that's freely available on the web, too.
Not all websites have been vetted - be sure to use lateral reading to fact-check information as you go!