Starting your Research: Tools & Tips - EXER 311 -- Chronic Disease and Obesity

Librarian's Research Tips:

Start with some background reading. While it is tempting to start your research by identifying available research articles, this process will be very time-consuming if you have not read up on your topic.

Use some of the resources on this tab to help you locate review articles on your topic. Review articles are a great starting point, as they provide:

important keywords and terms
a timeline of existing research,
great bibliographies of previous research,
the names of important authors on that area of scientific research.

Using this strategy, your search for information will result in a more thorough examination of the literature in less time!

After you have completed your background reading and developed a good list of keywords, you are ready to move onto finding Research Articles.

Health Background Information

Salem Health Online
Full-text access to the following subject encyclopedias: Psychology & Mental Health, Genetics, Infectious Diseases & Conditions, Magill's Medical Guide, 6th edition and Complementary & Alternative Medicine.
National Institutes of Health
Access quality health information, including symptoms and treatment(s), from respected medical organizations.
Mayo Clinic -- Health Information
Access overviews of dozens of medical conditions, including their causes, symptoms, treatments, and home/lifestyle remedies.
Eating Disorders: an Encyclopedia of Causes, Treatment, and Prevention
Articles in this book cover all aspects of eating disorders, including related topics such as exercise and activities, body image and self-esteem, therapies, and more.

Annual Reviews

Annual Reviews offer "comprehensive, timely collections of critical reviews written by leading scientists" in a variety of disciplines, including:

Article Databases & Online Portals for Locating Review Articles

Use the limiting options of these article databases to locate review articles:

MEDLINE
Provides authoritative medical information related to medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more.
PubMed Central (PMC)
This is the open access portal for all government funded research publications after six months.
Biological Abstracts
A complete collection of bibliographic references covering life science and biomedical research literature published from more than 4,000 journals internationally.
ScienceDirect College Edition - Health & Life Sciences Journal Collection
Access to peer-reviewed journals in the fields of biology, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering, medicine, physics, and more.
Science Citation Index
Access to cited references and author abstracts.