CSUDH Library and Information Resources for

The Health Care Systems & Perspectives: HSC 201

For assistance, contact: E. Carol Dales
   cdales@csudh.edu       (310) 243-2088

Books

• If you will be borrowing books from the CSUDH Library, take a close look
  at the regulations on the Circulation /Borrowing Books page.
  
  
• Use the Library's ToroFind catalog to find books.
  Search for books by author, title or subject for books available in the CSUDH Library.
• Your search may also link you to electronic books that you can read on your screen
  after logging in)
• You may also directly request books from other libraries
  (use LINK+ buttons and "All CSUs Catalog" ).
  
  
• Search for books in the catalogs of other local libraries and libraries worldwide:

• ToroFind: CSUDH Online Catalog
• Southern California Libraries (includes links to academic, public and special libraries)
• Library of Congress Online Catalog
• LIBWEB (includes links to libraries in over 125 countries)
  
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Journal Articles

To find journal articles when you don't already have a specific citation or reference to an article, use one or more of the Library's journal article databases (you'll also hear them called electronic databases).

To use CSUDH databases from off campus: 

•  You must be a current CSUDH student, faculty member or staff member.
•  Adobe Acrobat Reader software (v. 7.0 or later) must be installed on your computer.
   Many articles are available only in .pdf (portable document format) format,
   and you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to read and/or print them.
   Get Adobe Acrobat Reader free at   http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

• For detailed information on how to log in to CSUDH databases, click here.
  
  
• For an overview of how to use CSUDH databases to find journal articles, click here.
  
  
• To limit your results to peer reviewed articles, look for the words "scholarly" and/or "peer reviewed" and place a check in the box beside these words.
  
  
• Click on a link below to access the most useful databases for this class
  (or go to Article Indexes to see all available CSUDH databases).

• CINAHL Plus with Full-Text (EBSCO): Indexing for over 3000 journals,
  with full text articles from more than 330 scholarly journals and many links
  to full text in other databases.
  
  
• Business Source Premier: Business research database with full text for more than 8,800 publications, including full text for more than 1,100 peer-reviewed business publications; ample coverage of issues in public administration, government policy, and more!
  
  
• MEDLINE (EBSCO) : Authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing,
  the health care system, and much more. Originally created by the National Library
  of Medicine, searches citations from almost 5000 current biomedical journals.  
  
  
• Ebsco Database: Use this link when you want easy access to this publisher's databases in multiple subject areas.
  
  
• Academic Search Premier: Multi-disciplinary database with full text for more than 4,650 publications, many of which are peer-reviewed journals; often used as a starting point since it covers a wide range of subject areas.
  
  
• SocINDEX: Comprehensive sociology research database that indexes numerous sociology and other social science journals; includes full text for 235 "core" journals, as well as full text for books and conference papers.
  
  
• CQ Researcher
  Focuses on current issues and hot topics; each issue provides the background, current situation, pros and cons, chronology, the outlook, and a bibliography.
  A good place to get a general overview of an issue when you don't know much about it .
  
  
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• Locate the Thesaurus button or link on the screen (it may also be called "Subject Headings" )
• Type a word or phrase for which you would like to identify a subject heading
  into the appropriate box.
• Sometimes you can click on the suggested search term to see a note that
  defines the term as it is used in the database, as well as a list of narrower,
  broader and related terms.
• Either copy down useful subject headings or cut and paste them into the
  search screen where you are working.
  
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Finding a Specific Journal Title

If you already have a reference or citation to a specific journal article, find out if the Library subscribes to the journal you need by using the CSUDH Journals List. This list includes both print and online journals. The Library currently subscribes to over 25,000 journals online.

For more detailed help finding a known article, visit the Find a Specific Article tutorial.

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Interlibrary Loan

    If the CSUDH Library does NOT own in any form a specific journal, magazine or book that you need:

      - use the online ILL form at http://library.csudh.edu/ill.htm  to submit an electronic request or
        fill out the online form when you are linked to it in a database search.

               A print or electronic copy of the article you request will be obtained from another
               library and emailed to you, but it may take 7 days or more longer to arrive.
               Note: books requested through LINK+ usually arrive within 3 to 5 days!

              OR

   - go to the Library Online Catalogs and Information page to look for holdings at other
         academic libraries you can visit in person (such as other CSU libraries).      

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The Internet

Google is still an outstanding search engine, but unless you know exactly what you are doing,
it will lead you to millions of web pages on health care systems and related topics.

Helpful tips:

• Try Google's Advanced Search page to refine your search.
  For example, limit your results to web pages in the .edu domain.
  
• When using information from the web for projects and research papers, remember to evaluate the quality and reliability of the information.
  This list of criteria will help you evaluate the relevance to your research of Internet websites, books and journal articles:
  • Authority of the author(s) Date of publication Type of publication Relevance of content Intended audience References cited
  • Has this been cited or reviewed by others?       
    

• The following short articles will also help you evaluate Internet websites:

  *       Evaluating evidence found on the Internet, by Suzanne C.  Beyea, Association of Operating Room Nurses. AORN Journal, Denver; Nov 2000; Vol. 72, Iss. 5; pg. 906,           http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FSL/is_5_72/ai_67709246/print


  *   Review of published criteria for evaluating health-related websites; 
Paul Kim; Western Journal of Medicine, San Francisco; Jun 1999; Vol. 170,
Iss. 6; pg. 329, 4 pgs (find in ProQuest Nursing Journals)


For more evaluation criteria, try:
     Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages (Cornell University Library)
     and
     Evaluating Information on the Web (Pasadena City College Library).


• Google Scholar lets you search some scholarly literature, including many peer reviewed articles, 
  but if you are off campus, you may not be able to freely access the full text of articles.
  For scholarly literature, the Library databases listed above are usually a better option for beginning your research. (do try Google Scholar if you are having no luck choosing a database).
  
• More Websites Selected and Evaluated by Librarians:
  
  Infomine (infomine.ucr.edu): A searchable index of websites specifically appropriate for
  university research. Click on SocSci & Humanities to search their specialized index.
  
  Librarian's Index to the Internet (www.lii.org): Index of websites reviewed by librarians,
  geared toward the general public. Choose a topic from the index or use Advanced Search to
  search for keywords.
  

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Citing Articles and Sources

            Bibliographic citations at the end of your paper should be carefully formatted so
others can find the journal articles and books you used.

The style most commonly used for citing references in health sciences is
American Psychological Association format. For help, try these:

• The world's easiest guide to using the APA: a user friendly manual for
  formatting research papers according to the American Psychological
  Association style guide by  Carol J. Amato.
  Call Number: BF76.7 .A62 1998 (at Reserve Book Desk on second floor)
  APA Style.org , at http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html ; has free online excerpts
   from the latest edition of the  APA  Style Manual.
  
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab has a wonderfully complete online guide
   to APA format: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html

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