Dissertation Preparation

If you are a final year nursing student, are preparing for your dissertation and will be attending either a dissertation literature searching workshop or a one to one training session then please complete these activities first:

Start your Plan

Introduction to Literature Searching - complete this etutorial to make yourself aware of the key things that you need to think about.

HL_LiteratureSearchPlan_pdf - print out and start to fill out the literature search plan. This will help you to focus your search.

Clarify your Question

Identify your Question - this tutorial will help you to break your question down into its component parts.

Using PICO - if you have a patient-based clinical question the PICO tool can help you to identify the key elements that you will need to address.

Add your question to your search plan.

Identify Keywords

Develop your Search Skills - learn how to identify and combine keywords.

Using a Thesaurus - a thesaurus is a valuable tool to help you discover more keywords and locate articles.

Add your keywords and thesaurus suggestions to your search plan.

Start your Search

Finding Articles - learn about articles, journals and databases.

Using Cinahl - Cinahl is our most used nursing resource; this short etutorial will help you to get started.

Start your search using Cinahl. Bring any results to your workshop or training session.

More Help

See "The Final Chapter" from Leeds University, in the section Useful Websites and Resources.

You can find this list of resources on the Dissertation Workshops page.