How to search CINAHL

In CINAHL, limits offer different ways for you to refine your search results.  Which you use depends on your research question.

The limits that librarians find most useful are:

• Age
• Gender
• Language
• Peer Review
• Publication Date 

In CINAHL, you can find the limits (after you have done your search) on the left-hand side of the results page.

For a search on the topic of "What is the risk of mortality due to cell phone use in distracted teen drivers?" we decided to use the Age limit for our teen concept.  The search includes the concept of cell phones and distracted driving.  

( "distract* driv*" OR "distract* * driv*" ) AND ( "cell phone" OR "cell phones" OR "cellular phone" OR "cellular phones" OR "mobile phones" OR "mobile phone" OR smartphone* OR cellphone* ) 

To apply the Age limit:

1. Scroll down the results page (looking to the left-hand side) for the word Age. Next to Age is this symbol > which indicates that there are more options for Age.  Click on Age, to see the options.
2. Click on the check box next to adolescent: 13-18 years.  This will automatically update your results list to this population.

At this point you need to decide how important it is to you to capture 19 year olds which is an age that is included in a much larger group, adult: 19-44 years. You can click on the check box next to the group  adult: 19-44 years to display those results as well.  

If you can't see the age grouping you'd like click the Show More (link) at the bottom of the Age filter (box).

In CINAHL, the Gender limit refers to the binary female and male. To search for non-binary genders see our LGBTQ2 Health for search tips. Limiting by Gender can be useful depending on your research question.  

To apply the Gender limit:

1. Scroll down the results page (looking to the left-hand side) for the word Gender. Next to Gender is this symbol > which indicates that there are more options.  Click on Gender, to see the options.
2. Click on the check box next to the Gender of interest.  This will automatically update your results list to this population.

In CINAHL, the languages represented in the Language filter includes only those for which there are results in the results page. At the UM Libraries, most of our collections are in the English language. This means that by limiting for English you can quickly narrow the focus of your search to those journals we are likely to have.  BUT we do have some materials in languages other than English and these would be removed from your result set.  The best way to use this limit is to include English and any of the other languages you can read.

To apply the Language limit:

1. Scroll down the results page (looking to the left-hand side) for the word Language. Next to Language is this symbol > which indicates that there are more options.  Click on Language, to see the options.
2. Click on the check box next to the Language(s) of interest.  This will automatically update your results list to articles in these languages.

UM Libraries doesn't have the material you need?

UM students, staff and faculty members can always request documents from outside of our collections using the Document Delivery service.  If you are requesting a document that is not in English, please include in the Comments section of the form that you can read the language of the material you are requesting.

"Peer Review is a process of subjecting an author's work, research or ideas to the scrutiny of experts in the same field. It is a way to verify the credibility of an article before it is accepted for publication". (What is peer review?) Many professors will require students to include peer-reviewed articles in their reference list for their papers.  CINAHL offers a feature which allows you to limit to peer review articles.

To apply the peer review limit:

1. Scroll down the results page (looking to the left-hand side) for the Limit To (box). Click on Show More (link).
2. In the pop-up window look for Peer-Reviewed and click on the check box under it.
3. Click Search. The results will then be limited to those articles which have been peer reviewed.

To learn more about what is a scholarly article and the peer review process check out these videos:

In CINAHL, the Publication Date limit helps you to select the range of publication dates you'd like to search.  Using this limit depends on your research question and the volume of results you get from your initial search.

To apply the Publication Date limit:

1. Scroll down the results page (looking to the left-hand side) for the date range.
   1. You can type in the beginning and ending dates of interest OR
   2. Use the slider to select the dates of interest.
2. This will automatically update your results list to articles published in those years.

If you need to limit to Publication Date using specific months:

1. Scroll down the results page (looking to the left-hand side) for the date range.
2. Below the slider bar click on Show More.
3. Find the Publication Date box (shown below), fill in the start month and year and the end month and year.
4. Click the Search (button)
5. Your results list is updated to articles published in that month and year range.