PB HLTH 14: Introduction to Health Promotion

How To Do Library Research

msholinb@library.berkeley.edu (Michael Sholinbeck) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:51:41 -0700

Getting Started with UC-eLinks
Use UC-eLinks to:

link directly to the online full text when available
Check the Melvyl Catalog to see if and where UCB has the article, etc., in print
Request the article, book, etc. if UCB does not own it.

How to do library research, in a nutshell
(Note: This is not necessarily a linear process):

Identify your research topic
Break your topic into individual concepts, listing each concept (with synonyms!)
Example topic: How do we get kids to stop smoking?
Concepts:
kids (maybe use youth, teens, teenagers, adolescents, ...)
stop smoking (maybe use smoking cessation, tobacco control, ...)
Do a preliminary literature search using the terms you came up with in step 2. Ask a librarian which resource(s) are best for your topic; also see next section.
Most library databases let you use Boolean logic to construct a search statement:
(youth OR teens OR adolescents) AND (smoking cessation OR tobacco control)
Evaluate (read critically!) what you retrieve from your preliminary searching (see the above links)
What question is being addressed?
Who wrote the thing?
Beware of hypotheses presented as fact!
» Critical Evaluation of Resources (UCB Library) Making sense of what you find
» Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply and Questions to Ask (UCB Library) How useful is that web page?
» And then, there's all that brouhaha about Wikipedia...!
Narrow or broaden your topic, if necessary; make sure it's a researchable topic!
Too broad:
Tobacco use by youth
» Narrow a topic by limiting it to:
A type of person (ethnicity, gender, age ... );
A particular period of time;
A particular place;
One aspect of the topic (economic, psychological, political, legal ... )
Too narrow:
Excessive use of non-filtered Camel cigarettes by Cal students on weekends
Continue with your literature search, gathering the best citations for your topic. Consider adding your citations to a RefWorks database!
Write a great paper! (Don't plagiarize!!)
Get an A! (Note: results not guaranteed)

Connect From Off Campus

msholinb@library.berkeley.edu (Michael Sholinbeck) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:57:33 -0700

Articles, databases, and more are available online from anywhere! Access UCB Library licensed (subscribed) resources (databases, online journals, ...) from off campus or via your laptop or other mobile device using one of two simple methods:

Proxy Server
After you make a one-time change in your browser settings, the proxy server will ask you to log in with a CalNet ID or Library PIN when you click the link to a licensed resource. See setup instructions, FAQ, and Troubleshooting for setup details and more.

VPN (Virtual Private Network)
After you install the VPN client on your computer, you can log in with a CalNet ID to establish a secure connection with the campus network.

Contact Your Librarian

msholinb@library.berkeley.edu (Michael Sholinbeck) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:14:09 -0700

Michael Sholinbeck

Sheldon Margen Public Health Library

msholinb@library.berkeley.edu (Michael Sholinbeck) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:25:04 -0700

Find Journal Articles

msholinb@library.berkeley.edu (Michael Sholinbeck) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:16:23 -0700