Tips for effective searching
Find articles and essays
Get a copy of an article
Internet Sites
Find books
Find background information
Citing sources

These are only some of the sources that may be useful to you.  Please contact me for help with any of your research, Anna Pilston, x1456 or email AskUs.

Tips for effective searching
Use both keyword and subject searching for best results.

Narrow a search by using powerful subject headings. The National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MESH) is the standard vocabulary for disease, drug, anatomical, and physiological concepts. To find the correct MeSH terms in the Medline database, click on the MeSH rectangle, type in a term and press "Browse".

Be persistent in your keyword searching.
Try synonyms (AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
Try both singular and plural forms of words. (Use a "+" sign in GenSciAbs to search both singular and plurals e.g. disease+)
Try a truncation symbol "*" to get a variety of word endings. (disab* to retrieve disabled, disability, disabilities, etc.)
If searching a compound word, try it as one word and as two words (e.g. child care or childcare) to see which retrieves the most useful results.
If searching a term with an internal dash, search the term in each database with and without the internal dash (e.g. x-ray vs. x ray) to see which retrieves the most useful results.

Find articles and essays
Get beyond Google by using some of the databases below, which contain both popular and scholarly articles. Although they deliver their content through the web, these databases are paid for through library subscriptions. Information found here would not generally be found for free on the web; articles have been written by subject experts or professional journalists and reviewed by peers and editors.

General Databases on Health Issues, Diseases and Occupational Therapy
HealthSource: Nursing Academic Edition (1975+)
    Start your research here for articles on specific medical conditions, inherited diseases, occupational therapy and rehabilitation. This database provides nearly 600 scholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines. It also includes abstracts and indexing for nearly 850 journals.

GenSciAbs (General Science Abstracts) (1984 +)
    Topic areas include medicine and health, and many other biology/science subjects. Indexes 160 journals from U.S. and Great Britain with article summaries beginning in 1993.

Academic Search Premier (varies)
     Continue your search in this larger multi-disciplinary database that indexes 4700 journals. Full text for more than 3600 scholarly journals. Indexing goes back to 1975 for some journals.

JSTOR (varies)
    Contains the full-text of articles appearing in the back files (older issues) of 117 scholarly journals, including 10 sociology/psychology journals.

Occupational Therapy and/or Medical Databases
OT Search (1922+)
    The contents of Wilma L. West Library are indexed in OT Search. The library operates as a national clearinghouse of occupational therapy books and article abstracts for AOTA members and personnel. Searches in the database can be limited to specific journal titles such as the American Journal of Occupational Therapy or the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy. Topics indexed include occupational therapy; rehabilitation; education; psychology; health care administration

CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health)
    Use this index to search about specific medical conditions, treatments, etc.  If you find yourself unable to access this database, be patient and try again later.  Only four people can access it simultaneously through our subscription.

Medline (1960+)
    Premier medical database covering all areas of medicine including nursing. This interface allows for easy requesting of articles from other libraries. Searches in the database can be limited to specific journal titles such as the American Journal of Occupational Therapy or the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy.

PubMedCentral (varies)
    PubMed Central is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. This collection is a full text subset of indexing from Medline / PubMed database (1960+).

Health Technology Assessments
    A database dealing with the medical, social & economic costs of healthcare.

NHS Economic Evaluation
    Healthcare assessment information for the United Kingdom.

Evidence Based Medicine Databases
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (varies)
    Contains full text articles, as well as protocols focusing on the effects of healthcare. Data is evidence-based medicine.

Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness. (varies)
    Iincludes abstracts of published systematic reviews on the effects of health care from around the world, which have been critically analyzed according to high standards. This database provides access to quality reviews in subjects for which a Cochrane review may not yet exist.

Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (varies)
    A bibliography of controlled medical trials identified by contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration and others

Publisher Sponsored Science Databases
Scirus
    Search the publisher Elsevier's database of Science Direct articles as well as more scholarly web sites, including PubMed. Search for full text articles from that database using the following link: Locate E-town Journals or from the library's web page. Order items on ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan), if the library doesn't own that specific magazine.

Ingenta
    Another database of publisher's journal articles that focus on the sciences. Search for full text articles from that database using the following link: Locate E-town Journals or from the library's web page. Order items on ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan), if the library doesn't own that specific magazine .

Annual Reviews and other series discuss the latest developments in a particular field. Click on the link below to search for full text articles on your topic.
Annual Review of Medicine. 1996 to present with 1 year delay for current issue.
Annual Review of Neuroscience. 1997 to present with 1 year delay for current issue.
Annual Review of Physiology. 1997 to present with 1 year delay for current issue.
Annual Review of Public Health. 1997 to present with 1 year delay for current issue.
Advances in Physiotherapy. 1999 to present with 1 year delay for current issue.
Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. 1990 to present.
Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation. 1999 to present.

How do I find a copy of the article?
Locate journals at E-town
Search for full text articles in journals using the following link: Locate E-town Journals.
Type the name of the journal next to 'Find:' and then press 'Search'. Full text can be electronic or within the library in paper, microfiche or microfilm.
Check the publication dates of the article against the listing of years for the database or the years listed 'Within the High Library'. If the database includes those years, click on the link, add in an author's name or title of the article. The full text link should appear at the end of the citation.
    Current year paper issues of journals in the High Library are on the entrance level.
    Older print journals are on Level One, alphabetically by journal title.
    If the journal is in microfiche or microfilm, a copy can be made for $.05 per page. Ask the reference librarian or circulation student assistants for help. Use this link to the microfiche/microfilm copy request form, if you don't need it for a couple of days. After reading the copyright information, click on Request an Article and fill in the appropriate information. Copying charges of $.05 per page will be billed to your account.

Locate journals beyond E-town
Hershey Medical Center Journals List
    Click on appropriate letter of the alphabet under new improved journal list. Type in the name of the journal after "Find:". Travel to the Hershey Medical Center to make a copy of the article.

Order items from another library, if The High Library doesn't own that specific journal or have it for the years that you need it. Requesting the article can be done through the databases or through the following software link: ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan). Allow a minimum of 4-5 working days for the article to arrive.

Internet Sites
    To find highly-rated academic web sites on specific subjects:
Infomine, Scholarly Internet Resource Collection
Librarians Index to the Internet
WWW Virtual Library
University of Wisconsin Scout Report

    Selected occupational therapy web sites:
American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.
    Includes articles on occupational therapy standards of practice, and information to help older drivers.

Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists

Tutorials on diseases from National Institutes of Health

Center for Disease Control health topics

National Institute of Mental Health

Autism spectrum disorders
    Association of College and Research Libraries list of recommended Internet resources.

John W. Kimball's Biology pages on neurons

Health and Life Sciences pages at Intute--Offers free access to an extensive array of high-quality internet resources in life and health sciences through a subject gateway OMNI.

Find books
The High Library catalog will help you find books, videos, CDs and other materials.
For books not available at the High Library use WorldCat.

Find background information
General Subject Specific Encyclopedias listed below have summary articles and bibliographies to get you started.

An Annotated Index of Occupational Therapy Evaluation Tools.  1989.  Ref 615.8515 As825a.

Black's Medical Dictionary.  2006.  Ref 610.3 T482 m41.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR. 4th edition, text revision. 2000. Ref 616.89 D536.

Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage: a guide to nondiscriminatory language.  1991.  Ref 428 M193d.

Encyclopedia of Aging. 2002. Ref 305.2603 En56  4 volumes.

Encyclopedia of Bioethics.  1995.  Ref 174.2 En56 1995  5 volumes.

Encyclopedia of Gerontology. 1996.  Ref 612.67 En56  2 volumes.

Encyclopedia of Human Biology. 2nd edition. 1997. Ref 612.003 En56  9 volumes.
    Includes articles on normal physiology and developmental stages as well as disease states.

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. 2002. Ref 570.3 En56  20 volumes.
    Includes articles on Alzheimer's, spinal reflexes, stroke, etc.

Encyclopedia of Mental Health. 2001. Ref 616.89 K12e  .

Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. 1987. Ref 612.6 En56  2 volumes.

Encyclopedia of Special Education.  1987.  Ref 371.903 En56  3 volumes.

Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence.  1998. Ref  305.23103 G151.

Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine.  1999.  Ref 616.003 G151  5 volumes.

Grant's Atlas of Anatomy.  2005.  Ref. 611 G762a11

Mayo Clinic Family Health Book.  2003.  Ref. 613 M473

Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. 1999.  Ref 615.02 M555.

Portrait of Health in the United States. 2001.  Ref 6110.72 P853.

Quick Reference to Occupational Therapy.  2000.  Ref 615.8515 R324q2.

Citing sources

APA Style Citation  From Lake Sumter Community College Library. (Be patient, this page loads slowly.)

Citing Electronic Sources- APA Style  Tips prepared by High Librarians on citing e-resources.

APA Style  A few free examples from the American Psychological Association.

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Ref 652.323 Am512p5 On Reserve at the Circulation Desk.

 

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• The High Library
• Anna Pilston
• Date created: March 30, 2006  
• Date updated: September 2, 2008