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NURS 1059: Healthy Mothers and Babies

Healthy Mothers and Babies Essay

This page will get you started finding resources and writing your essay. You can choose from a choice of three questions given to you. You only need to answer one of the questions using current literature and your textbook. You should use a range of quality sources to support the argument that you are presenting in your essay.

Plan your search

Start by identifying the concepts (main ideas) from your assignment topic prior to searching. Then consider alternative words for each.

Break down the question

As your topic might have multiple questions, you should perform a search for each sub-question. Use the common concepts plus one or more question-specific concepts.

Imagine your chosen question is 'What are the prenatal care models for women who live in a rural area?' 
First, identify the concepts common to the main question.

Key concepts
Alternative concepts

prenatal care

antenatal care, midwifery care 

care models

models of care

rural area

remote, regional

Next, use AND and OR to combine your keywords

Line 1 prenatal care OR antenatal care OR midwifery care
Connector AND
Line 2

care models OR models of care
Connector AND
Line 3 rural area OR remote OR regional 

Finally, add truncation and phrase symbols. This will help you save time and get relevant results.

For example

  • truncation can help find plural word forms, pregnan* will find pregnant and pregnancy and pregnancies 
  • use quotation marks to keep phrases together, for example "patient satisfaction" OR "consumer satisfaction"

With truncation/phrases 

Line 1 "prenatal care" OR "antenatal care" OR "midwi* care"
Connector AND
Line 2

"care model*" OR "model* of care"
Connector AND
Line 3 "rural area*" OR remote OR regional

Find information

The Library Collection can be a useful starting point in locating quality information.

Use it to find:

  • books or ebooks
  • journals or journal articles
  • conference papers and newspaper articles

Select appropriate references

You should critically evaluate all resources found to determine their appropriateness for your assignment. The video below explains more.

  • Having access to a lot of information can be overwhelming.
  • Evaluating information helps you decide what resources you should use.
  • One technique you can use is the CRAAP test.
  • Currency: How recent is the information? Does it suit your needs?
  • Relevance: Is the information relevant to your assignment?
  • Authority: Who wrote the information? Are they an expert?
  • Accuracy: Is the information accurate? Is it supported by evidence?
  • Purpose: Why was the resource created? Is there any bias?
  • You can use the CRAAP tool to think about these issues when evaluating your resources.

Search databases

Emcare

A key database for nursing and allied health is Emcare. Searching in Emcare is different to searching in the Library Catalogue.

1. Type your first concept and alternative words into the search box.
2. Untick the box labeled Map to Subject Heading.

3. Select Search.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for your next concepts.
5. Tick the boxes next to each of your concept lines.
6. Select Combine with AND.

7. Scroll down to see your results.

More useful databases:

Writing essays

View the Student Engagement Unit's Study Help website for help writing your assignment, or to make an appointment with SEU staff.

Reflective practice

Reflecting on what you have learnt or experienced at university or in a clinical setting is an important part of reflective practice. It can help you approach a similar situation in the future with more skill and confidence. 

 

Resources on some of the different approaches to reflective practice.

 

Some more resources on reflective writing by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

Correctly reference your sources

You must appropriately cite (‘acknowledge’) all references used in your assignment to avoid plagiarism.