Starting your research from home

Before you start your research

About the AHEC Catalog

Searching for articles

What is the AHEC Digital Library?

Free medical journal web sites

Free electronic books

Ordering journal articles

Options for borrowing

Consumer health sources

Before you start your research

  1. Clarify the assignment.  Make sure you understand what you are required to do.   For example, must you prepare an oral or written presentation?  Must you include a bibliography and notes?  If you must include a bibliography and notes, what style manual are you supposed to use?  Turabian?  MLA?  APA?  Knowing this information at the start will save you time and trouble.
  2. Are you limited to research published within a certain time frame? 
  3. Are there particular resources you are NOT permitted to use? 

·        Please Note: If your instructor says you may not use the Internet, clarify if he or she means that you may not use electronic resources such as books and journal articles available on the Internet (in other words, you are to use only paper materials), or if he or she means that you may not base your research on the results of a general search using something like Google.   This is an important distinction because many legitimate journals and textbooks are now available on the Internet.  If your instructor has questions concerning this distinction, her or she is welcome to call SRAHEC’s medical library at 678-7276 for information and clarification.

  1. Do you need journals, books or some other format? 
    1. Books are still your best bet for basic information on medical conditions and other information that does not change significantly overtime.
    2. Journals are best for locating current research and developments on a particular topic.
  2. Are you looking for information on a particular population (for example, rates of diabetes in Native Americans)?
  3. Are you looking for a particular type of literature? (Review articles, case studies, etc.)
  4. When is the assignment due? (This determines whether you will have adequate time to obtain materials from other libraries if necessary.)
  5. Once you have decided on your topic, write a simple statement that completely describes it. 

“I am looking for review articles that compare the occurrence of diabetes in Native Americans, African Americans and Caucasians.   My articles need to be no further back than 10 years.  I need to limit my research to peer-reviewed articles and prepare a research paper.” 

Having a clear search statement will help you plan the best research strategy and will help your librarian help you find the best possible resources.                                                                                                    Top      

About the AHEC CatalogAvailable at http://catalog.ncahec.net

·        Users can search the catalogs of other AHEC libraries across the state of North Carolina.  

·        Those with a current SRAHEC library card can request items from these libraries using the Make-A-Request service.                                                                                                         Top

 Searching for articles

 There are several literature databases you can search from any computer with an Internet connection.

PubMed  (http://www.pubmed.gov)       

·        Gives full-text access to several textbooks and journals through PubMedCentral

http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=ncaheclib,uncchlib

 

HINT:  Save the printouts that contain the articles you are using.  They contain the information you will need to prepare your notes and bibliography!                                                           

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 What is the AHEC Digital Library? 

professionals, educators and students.  Includes unlimited full-text access to

numerous medical texts and journals.  This resource can be accessed from any

computer with an Internet connection.  

 

Free medical journal web sites           

Several web sites offer free full-text access to archived copies of medical journals. 

·        http://www.freemedicaljournals.com

·        http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov

·        http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl

·        Also see if the journal has its own web site.  Many journal publishers and associations are beginning to offer their periodical archives available for free online access.  Try running the name of the journal typed inside of quotation marks in a search engine like Google.  Example:  “New England Journal of Medicine”                                                                                                                            Top

Free Electronic Books

·        AHEC Digital Library (http://library.ncahec.net)

·        PubMed (http://www.pubmed.gov)

·        NCLive – (http://www.nclive.org) Netlibrary (You need to be a registered public library borrower to use this service, and you must initially sign up at your local public library.)                                Top

 

Ordering Journal Articles

You have several options for obtaining articles that are not available online.

·        AHEC Digital Library  (http://library.ncahec.net)

·        Loansome Doc

o       Register for Loansome Doc service through PubMed. 

o       Go to www.pubmed.gov.  Click Order Documents on the lower left-hand of the page.  On the Loansome Doc page, click “Registration” on the righthand side of the page.  Click the sign up link and complete the registration form.  SRAHEC’s libid is NCUFAC.  

·        SRAHEC document delivery

o       SRAHEC staff can copy and mail articles from the SRAHEC collection for additional fees.

o       Please note that US Copyright law allows only one article per issue of a journal to be photocopied by library staff for a third party.  For example, library staff cannot legally copy two articles out of the December, 2004 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine for a customer.                                                                                                                     Top

 

Options for borrowing books and other items from another library

·        Make A Request

o       An electronic interlibrary loan service that can be used to borrow materials from other AHEC libraries and have them delivered directly to the borrower’s home. 

o       This service is only available to current SRAHEC cardholders.

·        SRAHEC Interlibrary loan service

o       For more information, call 678-7276 and ask for Elizabeth Hosler or email ill@sr-ahec.org.

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Consumer Health Sources

MedlinePlus

http://www.medlineplus.gov - Provides consumer level information on medical conditions, diseases, drugs and nutritional supplements, a medical encyclopedia, medical dictionary, medical news and several interactive tutorials on medical conditions and procedures.  The “Espanol” link changes the web site to Spanish.

NCHealthInfo

http://www.nchealthinfo.org - In addition to the information listed in MedlinePlus, this resource helps North Carolina residents locate health care providers, specialists, programs, facilities and other resources by county.  It includes an “Ask A Librarian” link for additional assistance.

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