Medicine Research Guide
Reference Desk (413) 774-1509	Research Guides | Library Home

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Selected Reference Sources

Use reference sources to choose a topic, locate background information, and identify good search terminology.

• The Complete Guide to Alternative and Conventional Treatments (R 610 M489)
• The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary (R 610.3 A512st)
• The Cornell Illustrated Encyclopedia of Health (R 610.3 C814)
• Magill's Medical Guide (R 610.3 M194)
• The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine (R 610.3 O98)
• The Cambridge World History of Human Disease (R 610.9 C178)
• Atlas of Human Anatomy (R 612 N474at)
• The Oxford Companion to the Body (R 612 O98)
• Human Diseases and Conditions (R 616 H918)
• Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases (R 616.903 T939en)

Finding Books in the Online Catalog

• Materials on medicine are located in 610-619 in the Dewey Decimal Classification System.
• Use the catalog to identify the call numbers of items on a medical topic.
• Subject searching is the most efficient way to search for materials on medical topics in the catalog.
• If no items are identified with the subject search, try a keyword search. The keyword search searches the entire record for items in the catalog (titles, contents and subjects).
• Explore the results of every keyword search to identify possible helpful subject headings. For example, a keyword search for "infectious diseases" reveals that the correct subject heading for that topic in our catalog is "communicable diseases".
• To find books with a chapter on your topic, search a broader topic. For example, search "diseases" or "communicable diseases" to locate a book with a chapter on a specific disease.
• Collect all subject headings that identified in the catalog--research databases often use the same headings.

Electronic Books

Gale Virtual Reference Library (Tutorial )
Includes the full text of several medical encyclopedias:
Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine
Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer
Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine

These ebooks can also be accessed through the Online Catalog.

Find Articles in Research Databases
(To access databases from a computer located off-campus, go to DA Orgs/Library)

Health Databases

• Teen Health & Wellness (full text)
  The Teen Health & Wellness database "provides students with comprehensive curricular support and self-help tools on topics including diseases, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, fitness, mental health, diversity, family life, and more"--includes hotlines for teens in crisis
• Health Reference Center (1980-present)(full text plus citations only)
  Indexes journals in medicine, health, and nursing and allied health plus consumer health magazines, newsletters, pamphlets, newspaper articles, topical overviews, and reference books
• Health Source - Consumer Edition (full text)
  Includes over 300 consumer health periodicals, pamphlets, health reference books, patient education fact sheets, drug information, and a medical dictionary
• PubMed (1950's-present)(primarily citations --some full text)--tutorial
  Medical index provided by the National Library of Medicine and freely available on the Internet--includes over 15 million citations from MEDLINE, a database that indexes journals in the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, preclinical sciences plus additional life science journals--for access to full text articles only, try PubMed Central
• ReleMed
  Searches PubMed for the most relevant articles-created by researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine--for information on how relevancy is determined, see Help

Science Databases

• Science Reference Center (full text)
  Contains full text for hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, and other sources--topics include: biology, chemistry, environmental science, health & medicine, history of science, life science, science & society, scientists
• Access Science
  Full text science encyclopedia ( McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology)--select "Medicine" under "Choose a Topic"

General Databases

• InfoTrac Databases
  Use InfoTrac Web to search all four databases at the same time (including Health Reference Center)--use the links below to search them separately
  Academic OneFile (full text plus citations and abstracts only)
  An academic database that indexes leading journals and reference sources in all disciplines, incluidng medicine--includes peer-reviewed articles and the full text of the New York Times, 1995-present
  Expanded Academic (1980-present) (full text plus citations only)
  Indexing, abstracting, full text, and images for scholarly or refereed articles in all academic disciplines, including medicine
  General OneFile (1980-present)(full text plus citations only)
  Indexing, abstracting, full text, and images for newswires, general interest magazines, refereed academic journals, business and technology publications, plus specialty titles in law, health care, and computers. Full indexing of 5 major newspapers
• EBSCOhost Databases (use EBSCOhost Web to search Health Source, Science Reference Center, and Academic Search Premier simultaneously)
  Academic Search Premier (full text plus citations and abstracts only)
  A general academic database that indexes over 8,000 leading publications in all subject areas, including medicine, and provides full text for over 4,000 of those titles--over 3,500 titles are peer-reviewed or scholarly publications

Selected Internet Sites
(Websites should always be evaluated for authorship, accuracy, and currency)

• A-Z Index: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Dept. of Health and Human Services)
• eMedicineHealth.com
  A consumer health site providing current medical information--contains articles written by physicians for patients and consumers--articles are reviewed by 2 physicians prior to publication
• Health (from Librarians' Index to the Internet)
• Bioethics Resources on the Web (National Institutes of Health)
• Bioethics Web
• BioMed Central
  Provides access to the full text of over 150 electronic journals
• DisabilityInfo (U.S. government site)
• Global Health Atlas (World Health Organization)
  Standardized data and statistics for infectious diseases at country, regional, and global levels
• Gray's Anatomy (Bartleby.com)
• Healthfinder
  An award-winning site for consumers provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other Federal agencies--an excellent place to find the best government and nonprofit health and human services information on the Internet.
• Health: United States
• Mayo Clinic
  An award-winning consumer Web site that offers health information, and self-improvement and disease management tools.
• MedHist
  History of medicine resources
• MedlinePlus
  Provides authoritative medical information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations--easy access to medical journal articles, plus extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and health news.
• InteliHealth
  Includes diseases & conditions, healthy lifestyle information, medical dictionary, and health information for specific groups plus interactive tools and an Ask an Expert option
• Merck Source
  Offers information on diseases and conditions, medical news, and the home edition of the Merck Manual
• PDRHealth: Physician's Desktop Reference
  Includes drugs & supplements, diseases & condiitons, online health tools, and more
• State Health Facts
• Infectious Diseases Directory (from Librarians' Index to the Internet)
• Emerging Infectious Diseases: a Peer-Reviewed Journal Tracking and Analyzing Disease Trends
• Medical Photographic Library
• Resources for Health Consumers (Medical Library Association)
• Wellness Information Zone (Humana Foundation)
• Top 10 Sites for Consumer Health (Healthy People Library Project)

Need help with citing sources?
MLA Citation Style Guide
NoodleBib (citation management tool)