Follow these tips to get the BEST information for your report ...
1) Use Infotrac, Ebsco or Facts on File databases -- they are your best database sources of current, reliable information.
Free sources will be http://medlineplus.gov/ and www.webmd.com
And a great search engine is http://scholar.google.com/
2) Select an appropriate database within them:
In Infotrac, select:
HEATH REFERENCE CENTER ACADEMIC or
HEATH AND WELLNESS RESOURCE CENTER or
GALE VIRTUAL REFERENCE LIBRARY
In Ebsco, select:
MASTERFILE SELECT or
GENERAL SCIENCE COLLECTION
In Facts on File, select:
TODAY'S SCIENCE
3) Narrow your search by setting limiters:
FULL TEXT (this gives you full articles, not just publication info), and
PEER REVIEWED or REFEREED PUBLICATIONS (this weeds out little articles or health tips, and keeps only scientifically significant information)
4) Search only one or two keywords at a time:
A search for terms DEPRESSION MENOPAUSE is going to work so much better than
WHY WOMEN IN MENOPAUSE GET DEPRESSED
5) Once you've found an article in InfoTrac or EBSCO:
Read the abstract (or first few paragraphs) to see if it's what you really want.
Select HTML FULL TEXT or PDF TEXT to read the full article.
Print selectively -- not every article you find is going to be worth the paper you use.
If you are printing it, select the "print" function and follow the directions. PDF files take a long time to print!
6) When you've found one appropriate article, also look at the related articles and subject terms it suggests.
Here's an example. Citations go in alphabetical order by author's last name. Use a hanging indent so the first line is not indented but the rest of the citation is.
Author(s). "Article Title in Quotes." Original Publication Underlined. Publication Date. Volume #. Issue #. Page(s). Database You Found it on, such as HealthResource Center, Underlined. Parent Database, such as Infotrac or EBSCO. Bloomfield MSHS Library. Date and Year you found the article. <http://theURL>
