Library, writing and student support for Ball State nursing students
Online or in Muncie, Ball State nursing students can use the same library and support services as anyone on campus: University Libraries with its own Nursing research guide, The Writing Center, the Learning Center, the Office of Disability Services, the Counseling Center and the Career Center. Online students also get a Student Success Specialist who stays with them from application to graduation. Here is what each service does and when a nursing student is most likely to need it.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Ball State program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Ball State course.
Which service to use, and when
Start here if you know what you need but not who provides it. The sections below give the detail for each service.
| Service | What it offers | How online students reach it |
|---|---|---|
| University Libraries | Databases, OneSearch, Interlibrary Loan, research appointments | Full access online, including librarian appointments |
| The Writing Center | Writing consultations for students, faculty and staff | Online sessions booked through WCOnline |
| Learning Center | Tutoring, Supplemental Instruction, study skills, testing accommodations | Based in North Quad, Room 350 |
| Office of Disability Services | Accommodations, once documentation is on file | Self Referral Form and online chat |
| Counseling Center | Counseling, a 24/7 crisis line, the Welltrack app | Welltrack app and the crisis line |
| Career Center | Career coaching, employer events, Cardinal Job Fairs | Handshake, from Fall 2026 |
| Ball State Online | A dedicated Student Success Specialist | The same specialist from application to graduation |
| NSITC | Technology support and simulation for the School of Nursing | Through the School of Nursing |
University Libraries and the Nursing research guide
Ball State's University Libraries, with Bracken Library as the main building on campus, serve online students in full: database access, Interlibrary Loan and research appointments with librarians are all open to you. OneSearch searches the collections, Ask a Librarian takes questions, and the libraries also point students to Academic Libraries of Indiana (ALI).
The Nursing research guide, last updated August 7, 2026, is where a literature search should begin. It lists CINAHL, which it calls a key source for research in nursing and the allied health professions, along with MEDLINE with Full Text, PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition. The nursing librarian works from Bracken Library.
Two tips from the guide are worth adopting on day one: install the LibKey Nomad browser extension it recommends, and never pay to read an article; request it through the library instead. Research-heavy courses such as NUR 604 Research, and the DNP project sequence that ends in a SQUIRE 2 manuscript, lean on this guide the hardest.
The Writing Center and the Learning Center
The Writing Center has supported Ball State writers since 1959 and works with students, faculty and staff alike. You book through WCOnline. In Fall 2026, daytime sessions run in Robert Bell 295 and online, and evening sessions in Bracken Library and online, so an online graduate student can have a scholarly paper for NUR 603 Nursing Theory or a DNP project chapter read by a consultant before it is submitted.
Graduate nursing writing has its own demands, up to the project proposal your DNP Project Committee reviews during NUR 792, and a second reader who is not grading you catches problems early. Book a session a week before a major deadline rather than the night before.
The Learning Center, in North Quad Room 350, offers tutoring, Supplemental Instruction, study skills consultations and testing accommodations, and Ball State describes its tutors as nationally certified. Ball State does not say which of these services run at a distance, so online graduate students should ask before counting on them.
Disability Services, counseling and health care
The Office of Disability Services, in the Student Center (Room 116), begins with a Self Referral Form and also offers online chat. The graduate nursing handbook is clear on timing: documentation of a disability has to be on file with that office before any accommodation can be provided. Register early rather than waiting for an exam or a clinical course to begin.
If you expect to need an accommodation at a clinical site, raise it with Disability Services and your course faculty well before the term, since the agency and your preceptor may need time to plan around it.
The Counseling Center offers counseling, a crisis line that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the Welltrack mobile app. Ball State's Amelia T. Wood Health Center is on the Muncie campus, and Ball State notes that all of its appointments are held there in person, with no virtual or telehealth visits. If you study online from another city or state, plan your routine health care locally.
The Career Center and the switch to Handshake
The Career Center is changing platforms this year. Its page says Cardinal Career Link is now Handshake, and that from Fall 2026 Handshake is fully open for employer events, Cardinal Job Fairs and career coaching appointments.
Expect to see both names for a while. Ball State Online's services page for students still refers to Cardinal Career Link, so if a link or a handbook sends you to the old name, treat the Career Center's own page as current.
For nurse practitioner students, the career step follows certification. The certification exams guide covers the AANP and ANCC boards and the review course built into NUR 673, and Ball State's Graduate Programs Director verifies your education for the certification application.
Ball State Online and your Student Success Specialist
Online students get a support layer that campus students do not: a dedicated Student Success Specialist from Ball State Online, the same person from application through graduation. Ball State says online students have the same academic and student resources as on-campus students, in addition to that specialist. The Ball State Online office is in the David Letterman Communication and Media Building.
Your specialist is a natural first contact for questions about being an online student in general. For clinical questions, the graduate handbook points elsewhere: course faculty handle preceptor and clinical-hour questions, and when you are unsure who owns a problem, the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator will direct you to the right person. The who does what guide maps every role that touches a clinical course.
NSITC: the School of Nursing's technology and simulation center
The Nursing Simulation and Information Technology Center (NSITC) is, in the graduate handbook's words, the technology support center for the School of Nursing. Its director also oversees the School's nine simulation and skills laboratories, among them the Cardinal Simulation Lab with 11 hospital beds, a Standardized Patient Suite with 12 exam rooms staffed by live patient actors, and the Welcome Home Suite, which includes a telehealth machine.
Online graduate students mostly meet NSITC through technology support, while the labs play a bigger part in the BSN clinical experience. FNP students do come to Muncie once, for the 8-hour clinical day in NUR 681, but Ball State does not publish where on campus it is held or what it covers; the NUR 681 guide says what is known.
Help with the part these offices do not cover
Every service on this page supports your coursework and wellbeing. The preceptor search sits with you: Ball State's FNP students find their own preceptors, with faculty available if issues arise, and the graduate handbook advises starting a year ahead. That search is our specialty.
We find a preceptor near you who fits the exact Ball State course, check the site against Ball State's rules on authorized states, your own unit and the agencies it will not contract with, and prepare what the affiliation agreement and clinical packet call for, with a backup agency ready. Tell us your next clinical course and your placement advisor takes it from there.
Questions Ball State students ask
Can online Ball State nursing students use the library?
Yes. Ball State's online library guide says online students have access to the full range of library resources and services, including databases, Interlibrary Loan and research appointments with librarians. The Nursing research guide lists CINAHL, MEDLINE with Full Text and PubMed among its core databases.
Does the Ball State Writing Center help graduate students online?
Yes. The Writing Center works with students, faculty and staff, and in Fall 2026 it offers online sessions in both daytime and evening hours alongside its rooms in Robert Bell and Bracken Library. Book through WCOnline, and bring the assignment instructions and any rubric so the consultant can read your draft against them.
How do I get accommodations in Ball State's nursing program?
Start with the Office of Disability Services through its Self Referral Form. The graduate handbook says documentation must be on file with that office before any accommodation can be provided, so register before the course where you need it. For clinical settings, talk to your course faculty early as well.
Is Cardinal Career Link still used at Ball State?
It is being replaced. The Career Center says Cardinal Career Link is now Handshake, fully open from Fall 2026 for employer events, Cardinal Job Fairs and career coaching appointments. Some Ball State pages, including the online student services page, still use the old name.
Can online students see a doctor at Ball State's health center?
Only in person. Ball State says all Amelia T. Wood Health Center appointments are held on the main campus in Muncie, with no virtual or telehealth appointments. The Counseling Center's Welltrack app and 24/7 crisis line are available wherever you study.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Ball State's own catalog, graduate handbook, program pages and State Authorization Map, and Indiana rules. Your course faculty, your advisor and the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.
Ball State asks you to find your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your Ball State track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course, confirm the practice will sign Ball State's affiliation agreement, and line up a backup, so the School of Nursing can clear the site before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NUR 682, women's health forNUR 684, adult primary care forNUR 681andNUR 683 - Outside your own unit or clinic, in a state where Ball State's program is authorized
- Across Indiana, from Muncie to Evansville, and in the other states Ball State accepts
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.