(310) 243-3715

      SUBJECT RESEARCH GUIDE

LIBRARY INSTRUCTION: RESEARCH METHODS
FOR HEALTH SCIENCES MAJORS

THE LIBRARY RESEARCH PAPER

GETTING STARTED:

• Do you have a topic and list of references to locate?
  Or do you have a topic you that have a good understanding of, but do not have
  any journal articles or books yet? Either way, start with Search for Information.
• No ideas on what you want to research? Start with Find a Topic.

Step One: FIND A TOPIC:

• Does a specific class lecture topic intrigue you?
• Does a section of one of your textbooks make you want to find out more about it?
  Are there additional references given?
• Scan hard copy or electronic books that deal with the broad subject area.
  Books in the Library's RA 395 (Health care policy) area and online books such as
  Healthy People 2010 at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/Document/default.htm
  as well as websites listed in your syllabus are all good sources of inspiration.
  Additionally, you can skim some hard copy journals (on the 3rd floor of the Library) or electronic (look in ProQuest or EBSCOhost –see below) journals to get ideas for topics. Recommended journals include:
• The Lancet   
• Community Mental Health Journal (electronic only) 
• Journal of Community Health Nursing  
• American Journal of Community Psychology  

• American Journal of Public Health (electronic only)
• Family and Community Health    
• Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care http://www.rno.org/journal/
• Archive of Public Health: http://www.iph.fgov.be/aph/navpagelinks.htm

    As you read background resources and scan current journal issues,
    watch for the following to help you construct your search:

*     Terms and phrases used to describe the subject and synonyms;
make a note of different terms used for the same concept.

* Parameters such as disease state, geographic location, environment,
gender, ethnicity, age group.

*  Names of important researchers

Step Two:  SEARCH FOR INFORMATION in books and journals:

Finding Books: Use the Library online catalog.

·     Search by author and /or title if looking for a specific item.

· Search by subject; here are a few suggested subject headings to search:

• Community Health Services
• Community Health Nursing
• Health Promotion
• Health Education
• Medical care -- Cross-cultural studies
• Care of the sick -- Decision making
• Hospitals and Community
• Urban Health

· Find theses from CSUDH by looking under the subject heading CSUDH-Dissertations in the online catalog.

· Other library catalogs to search (click "Other Library Catalogs.. ”)

FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES: use journal article indexes (you'll also hear us call them electronic databases or just "databases").

To use CSUDH databases when you're off campus:

1.  You must be a current CSUDH student, faculty member or staff member.

2.  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;
      you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read and/or print them.
      Get the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader free at       http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

• For detailed information on how to log in to CSUDH Electronic 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.
  To find out more about peer-reviewed journals, go to the CSUDH Library page of
  frequently asked questions about Identifying, Locating and Citing Scholarly Journal Articles
  
• Go to the Nursing & Health Sciences page for access to selected databases,
  or use our comprehensive list of Journal Article Indexes to see all available
  CSUDH databases.

Step Three: EVALUATE EVERYTHING YOU FIND:

Use this list of criteria to evaluate the relevance of retrieved books, journal articles
and Internet websites to your research:

• 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)

Step Four: CITE WHAT YOU FIND:

Bibliographic citations at the end of your paper should be carefully formatted so others
can find the journal articles and books you used. The most common style used for citing references in health sciences is the American Psychological Association format:

· 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

Prepared by: E. Carol Dales / Library Distance Learning Instruction & Services Coordinator

California State University, Dominguez Hills / University Library, LI B-218

cdales@csudh.edu Ph: 310-243-2088 November, 2007