NURS 2038: Complex care of the neonate
This assignment help is designed to assist you with your assessment two preparing an annotated bibliography on a research topic.
Please refer to your learnonline course site for assessment instructions.
What is an Annotated Bibliography?
Find out more - from Study Help
-
Study help: Writing annotated bibliographiesLearn about how to plan and write an annotated bibliography.
Understand your task
Begin by clarifying the assessment requirements. Read the assignment instructions and marking criteria supplied on your course site. The video below explains more about writing assignments at uni.
If you need to develop a research topic/question, visit the Formulate a Question tab on this guide to learn how.
- Doing an assignment isn't a linear process.
- Start by reading the task in detail, so you know what you need to do.
- The assignment instructions and feedback sheet will explain the structure of your assignment.
- You can find out more about different assignment types on the Study Help website.
- You might need to revise your assignment plan as you go - this might happen a few times before you write your final draft!
- As you read more, your argument should evolve to incorporate new information.
- Make sure you use reliable resources to support your argument.
- To interpret your task you will need to identify the content words and phrases - these show what you have to focus on.
- The instruction words tell you how to approach the content, for example, describing something is different to comparing.
- Identify the limits of your assignment by looking at keywords, word limits and other instructions.
- Start the process early to get ahead.
Read: Plan your search
- Searching for your whole assignment is not very effective
- Mapping out your search is a good place to start
- Identify the key concepts in your question or topic
- You don't need to search for task words
- Use double quotation marks (" ") to search for two or more words together as a phrase
- Think about what other words (synonyms and alternative terms) might be used to describe the key concepts
- You can use acronyms, but you should search for the full terms as well
- To find fewer results, add different concepts using AND (e.g. rural AND Australia)
- To find more results, add synonyms or alternative terms, to your search using OR (e.g. "renewable energy" OR solar OR wind)
- You can change your search as you find more information
- For more information, read the How to plan your search document
-
How to plan your search (PDF)A short guide on steps you need to plan your search, including how to combine your search terms using OR, AND, NOT.
Search Strategy
To search effectively, it is important to first prepare a search strategy.
Start by identifying the concepts (main ideas) from your assignment topic, then consider alternative words for these concepts. Together, these will become your searchable keywords.
What are best practice safety and security procedures for trauma-informed care in a newborn intensive care unit?
Synonyms:
| Concept 1 |
|
| Concept 2 |
|
| Concept 3 |
|
Combined search string with:
AND / OR / truncation * (secur* instead of secure OR security) / phrases ("word + word")
secur* OR saf* OR care* OR stringent OR rigou*
AND
"newborn intensive care unit" OR NICU OR "paediatric intensive care unit" OR "pediatric intensive care unit" OR "newborn critical care
unit"
AND
"trauma inform*" OR "trauma-inform*" OR"trauma sensitiv*" OR "trauma compassionate"
-
Plan your search (Midwifery)Learn more about how to plan your search for your assignment in this Library guide.
Search the Library Catalogue
The Library Catalogue can be a useful starting point in locating quality information.
Use the Library Catalogue to find:
- books or ebooks
- journals or journal articles
- conference papers and newspaper articles
Learn to use the Library catalogue by working through the interactive tutorial below.
Find journal articles
Journals are the primary medium for scholarly communication and account for a large percentage of university research output. Journals contain collections of articles and are generally published on a regular basis.
For further information about journal articles and a list of key databases to help with your research:
Search in databases
Journal articles are often found in databases.
Useful databases to search:
-
Emcare (via Ovid)Key database for nursing and allied health, covering thousands of scholarly and peer reviewed journals from 1995 to present. Publications are primarily European and North American. Records are indexed with Emtree thesaurus terms (same as Embase). Example subject coverage: nursing, critical and intensive care, nutrition, physiotherapy, public and occupational health, geriatrics and palliative care.
Search Emcare Tutorial 
-
MEDLINE (via Ovid)The US National Library of Medicine database. Covers medicine, nursing, bio-medicine, pharmacy and allied health. Can filter by publication type.
-
ScopusOne of the largest bibliographic, multidisciplinary databases. Covers chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, life sciences, health sciences, social sciences, psychology and economics, as well as biological, agricultural, environmental and general sciences.
-
Health CollectionThe Health Collection includes research articles, reports and case studies of practical support to anyone studying or working in therapeutic, diagnostic and preventative health roles
-
ScienceDirectFor peer reviewed articles on a large range of subjects including health
Database limits and filters
Database limits and filters may be applied to reduce your search results if you have too many. Some useful limits include 'English Language' or date. Note the following about using limits:
-
Using a limit only applies to the database you are currently searching. If you have selected more than one, only the results from the filtered database will display.
-
If the database is bibliographic (abstract) only – it won’t find any full-text. Using a full text limiter will therefore yield 0 results.
If you limit your results, there is always the potential that you could miss some important/useful research.
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 evaluate your resources.
Write your assignment (annotated bibliography)
You also need to understand the requirements of your assignment.
The Student Engagement Unit has created a suite of resources called Study Help that can help you understand different assignment types. Have a look at:
-
Study help: Writing annotated bibliographiesLearn about how to plan and write an annotated bibliography.
-
Study help: Assignment writingA collection of resources and videos about writing assignments.
-
Assignment planningA short guide on the steps you need to plan out your assignment successfully.
-
Understanding assignments and instruction wordsThe next step is to try and focus your question as much as possible. This makes it easier to identify what to search for later, to actually do the search, and to determine whether the resources found are relevant.
Correctly reference your sources
You must appropriately cite (‘acknowledge’) all references used in your assignment to avoid plagiarism.
 Try: Learn to Reference - Part 1 interactive tutorialTry: Learn to Reference - Part 2 interactive tutorial |
If you need help, just ask!
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Contact: Ask the Library | Ask: the Study Help PALs | Use: Studiosity | Talk to: a Learning Adviser |
