Jane Long, MA, MLIS Periodicals and Government Documents Librarian Al Harris Library Health Statistics Where Do I Find the Right Resources?

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Off-Campus Access

Credo Reference Need background information? Try Credo. Credo is a resource that contains hundreds of reference books covering every major subject. Credo is a great place to go for background resources as well as books from the catalog and database articles. The link to Credo is located in the Fast Facts column and in the General Topics listing.

Credo Reference Use this resource to locate basic subject information from: Encyclopedias Dictionaries Biographies Quotations Bilingual Dictionaries Crossword Solver Measurement Conversions

Evaluating Information Scholarly sources are concerned with academic study, especially research for individuals such as students, teachers, professors, or any other professionals who need current information to stay informed of changes in their profession or area of expertise. Many scholarly journals are peer reviewed or refereed, that is, these articles have been subjected to a rigorous approval and editing process by other scholars in that discipline. It is easy to search for scholarly resources by using databases to find articles.

Finding Articles

Keyword vs. Subject Natural language--words and phrases you would use in everyday conversations Flexible terminology: Synonyms—words with the same or similar meanings—can be substituted Less accurate when searching in article databases Use with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) Predetermined terminology (created by the Library of Congress or LCMeSH) Terms like those found in a thesaurus (with narrower and broader terms) More precise when searching (most article databases have their own predetermined terminology)

Boolean Operators Must be placed between keywords AND Narrows your search OR Expands your search with synonymous terms NOT Excludes words from your search EBSCO databases implement Boolean searching.

Searching for Articles Health & Medical CINAHL: Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature with Full Text (EBSCOhost) CINAHL: Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature with Full Text (EBSCOhost) Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition (EBSCOhost) Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition (EBSCOhost) MEDLINE with Full Text (EBSCOhost) SPORTDiscus with Full Text (EBSCOhost)

Why are sources important? To provide statistics (i.e., NIH estimate of % population who donate blood). Statistics establish a level of credibility regarding your subject. To provide specific information (i.e., coin composition, hand washing techniques, background on Staphylococcus). Looking at what others have done will aid you in understanding of your subject better. To provide background and information about the problem from related studies (i.e., the article’s authors found ___% of their sample of college students are insured). Again, this detail aids you and your readers’ understanding of the subject. To help you to design your project (i.e., there is a questionnaire/protocol in the article). Good ideas will be found in the sources you examine.

It will be necessary for you to record information about the sources you find. (EBSCO databases make this information easily accessible.) Identify sources using the types listed above. Include the following appropriate information for each of your sources. Article / Chapter Title: Author(s): Source Title: Year (and date) published: Inclusive Page number(s): Source Volume (and issue), if applicable: Publisher (if applicable): Editor (if applicable) Database (if applicable): Link: Date Accessed: DOI AbstractScholarly Article Summary Paper Popular Press Other (stats & credible websites)

APA Citation: Purpose for Documentation Need help with using APA? Use this link for assistance:

APA Citation Information White, C., Kolble, R., Carlson, R. & Lipson, N. (2005). The impact of a health campaign on hand hygiene and upper respiratory illness among college students living in residence halls. Journal of American College Health, 53(4), doi: /JACH A digital object identifier (DOI) should be included in the reference if one has been assigned.

APA Citation Information Olivier N., Legrand R., Rogez J., Gamelin F. X., Berthoin S., & Weissland T. (2007). Heart rate variability before and after knee surgery in amateur soccer players. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 16(4), Retrieved from If there is no DOI assigned and the reference was retrieved online, give the URL for the journal’s home page.

First Step: Setting up an EBSCO folder Setting up an EBSCO folderSetting up an EBSCO folder

Next Step Next Step: Create a New Account

Now you are ready to save documents as you begin searching for sources.

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