College of DuPage Library

Welcome to Research 101

There are 6 units in this tutorial (see the menu to the right), each with its own set of objectives, information, and exercises. We recommend that you start with "Basics."

Several units have worksheets that can be filled out as you proceed through the tutorial. You may e-mail these to addresses of your choice for future reference or as part of an assignment. You may also print a copy and bring it with you to the library for help with your project.

Along with the objectives, each unit has learning outcomes that the unit will help students understand. The Library Learning Outcomes are outcomes that the library has determined are necessary for becoming information literate. These tutorials begin to address these skills. For a full list of library learning outcomes, click here.

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Welcome to the Nutrition Research Guide.

Click on a tab below to find books, videos, articles, and websites for use in nutrition classes.

If you need additional help, my contact info is to the right, stop by the Reference Desk or contact a reference librarian.

This guide will help you find books, videos, articles and websites about motion picture and television production. Use the tabs below and the menus on your right to start searching for different types of materials.

If you need additional help, come to the Library Reference Desk or Ask A Librarian.

This guide will help you find books, videos, articles and websites about photography. Use the tabs below and the menus on your right to start searching for different types of materials.

If you need additional help, come to the Library Reference Desk or Ask A Librarian.

Need help remembering course content for quizzes, exams and certification? Try some of the mnemonic devices created by previous COD Physical Therapy Assistant students! See the attached PDF documents.

Locating Journal Articles

The Library provides access to many online article databases that will help you locate journal, magazine, and newspaper articles. You can search by keyword, subject, author and title.

You must have a valid College of DuPage library card to access the electronic indexes and databases from off-campus.

Newspaper Databases
Includes Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and more

Databases by Subject
Choose a database according to your subject of interest.

• Begin your research in the Health and Medicine Databases
  

  What databases contain the best Physical Therapy journals?
  

  • Each database contains different resources (journals, e-books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, etc.)--Run your search in several databases. Read the database descriptions to locate databases most relevant to your search.

  • Credible, professional PTA journals such as PT in Motion and Physical Therapy can be found online via our electronic databases. PT in Motion is available full-text online via many COD databases including CINAHL and Academic Search Complete.

    Physical Therapy is available in print format in the COD Library and also available full-text online via many COD databases including CINAHL, Academic OneFile, Academic Search Complete, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition.

  • Pay attention to online journal article embargos
  • Some journals are ONLY available in print—the Library has photocopiers and flatbed scanners
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  "Best Bet" Health Databases

  Academic Search Complete
  Academic Search Complete contains indexing and full text for 9,100 journals. 7,100 of these journals are peer-reviewed scholarly titles. This collection provides both popular and scholarly journal coverage for nearly all academic areas of study - including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences and ethnic studies.

  Associates Programs Source Plus
  Associates Programs Source Plus is designed specifically for junior & community colleges with a primary focus on disciplines of study within associate degrees and certification programs. Areas covered include exercise, massage therapy and physical therapy. The database is updated weekly on EBSCO host.

  Care Notes
  Care Notes helps medical professionals educate patients and their families about certain conditions. Contains 2500 English and 2500 Spanish documents that address patient condition, treatment, follow-up care, psychosocial issues, continuing health, and the most frequently administered drugs.

  CINAHL
  The online version of Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, CINAHL Complete covers nursing, allied health, biomedical and consumer health journals, publications of the American Nursing Association, and the National League for Nursing. It now includes the CINAHL Thesaurus and full text of over 1,300 important nursing and clinical journals as well as over 130 Evidence-based Care Sheets; nearly 170 Quick Lessons providing Overviews of Disease and Conditions; 170 Continuing Education Modules; and full text for 360 Research Instrument Records.

  Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL)
  GVRL is a collection of online reference books on a variety of topics including Business, History, Literature, Medicine, Social Science, Technology and many more.
  Individual entries from these resources can be printed and emailed.

  Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition
  This resource provides 600 scholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines. Coverage of nursing and allied health is particularly strong. In addition, this database includes the Clinical Pharmacology database, providing access to up-to-date, concise and clinically relevant drug monographs for all U.S. prescription drugs, hard-to-find herbal and nutritional supplements, over-the-counter products and new drugs.

  MedlinePlus
  MedlinePlus has extensive information from the National Institutes of Health and other trusted sources on over 900 diseases and conditions. There are also lists of hospitals and physicians, a medical encyclopedia and a medical dictionary, health information in Spanish, extensive information on prescription and nonprescription drugs, health information from the media, and links to thousands of clinical trials.

  MICROMEDEX Healthcare Series
  Provides full-text information supporting clinical care decisions including: drug monographs and evaluations (including contrast media), drug dosages and interactions, drug product identification, reproductive risks, toxicity management, alternative medicine/herbal preparations information, acute/emergency care guidelines, drug, disease and condition information for patients, laboratory test information, dosage calculators, nomograms, and references.

  New England Journal of Medicine
  The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research and review articles, and editorial opinion on a wide variety of topics of importance to biomedical science and clinical practice.

  Rehabilitation Therapy in Video
  Rehabilitation Therapy in Video is a collection of video materials for the study of occupational therapy, physical/physiotherapy, and speech-language pathology. The collection allows students and faculty to easily find, cite, and share footage of top clinicians and academics explaining the underlying anatomical and neurological issues in specific patient populations, while demonstrating effective techniques and methods for their treatment.

  Science Direct
  **Be sure to select "Subscribed Journals" from the Source drop-down menu**
  Indexing and full-text of 175 journals in science, chemistry, earth science, biology and other related disciplines.

  Sports Medicine And Exercise Science In Video
  Sports Medicine and Exercise Science in Video is the most extensive video collection ever assembled in the areas of fitness and health assessment, disease management, injury treatment, nutrition, medical fitness, sport science, work-site wellness, exercise adherence, and much more.

  Browse all COD Library Health and Medicine databases
  

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  Database (and Library catalog) Advanced Search Tips

  • Use the features of the database (print, navigation) before using your browser's back or print buttons
  • For keyword searching, use the advanced search feature so that you can use multiple terms and set limits (date range, peer-reviewed, full text, etc)
  • Remember that databases require you to spell correctly
  • To limit your search results to journals with editorial boards (or some type of review process by health professionals) look under the “limit” section of the initial search page. Select the option to limit to peer reviewed (some databases also call them refereed publications). Refereed publications and peer reviewed are synonyms for board-reviewed or scholarly journals. Don’t forget to set your date limits too!
  • When creating your search strategy, take a moment to write down your key words and any synonyms (alternative words meaning the same thing) that might be used. Also think about how you connect your key words together.
  • Connect different concepts with the word AND indicating that you want both concepts to appear in each retrieved article.
  • Connect variations (different words could be used for the same thing) with OR indicating that at least one variation should occur in the articles retrieved.
  • Put parentheses around actions that you want to be done first (just like you may have done in an algebra class).
  • Here are some examples of synonyms and “nesting” (using parentheses):
  • ("physical therap*" OR rehabilit*)
  • ("water therap*" OR hydrotherapy)
  • Put the key concepts together like this example:
    ("physical therap*" OR rehabilit*) AND ("water therap*" OR hydrotherapy)
  • capitalize connecting words (AND, OR) to let the database know that you are giving a command, not just listing a word to be found
  • Use an asterisk (*) to find all possible endings. For example, therap* finds therapy, therapies, therapeutic
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ANYONE can put information on the Internet. ANYONE. As a health care provider, you must carefully select and evaluate medical/health information before using it to treat patients or letting it influence how you perform your duties. Use the evaluating sources section of this guide to help you determine the credibility of Web sites. A great final test is to ask yourself, "Would I want myself or someone that I care deeply about to be treated based on this information?" If the answer is "no," don't include such non-credible information in your academic projects either!

General Medical Information Websites

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
CDC.gov provides users with credible, reliable health information on topics such as data and statistics, diseases and conditions, emergencies and disasters, environmental health, healthy living, injury, violence and safety, life stages and populations, travelers' health, workplace safety and health, and much more. This site contains information appropriate for adults, teens and kids.

MEDLINEplus
Provides access to 900+ health topics, medical encyclopedias and dictionaries, and links to self-help groups, clinical trials, preformulated PubMed searches, lists of hospitals and physicians, health and information in Spanish and other languages. Includes listings of diseases & conditions by body system. Search for the following physical therapy-related health topics: rehabilitation, surgery and rehabilitation, assistive devices, disabilities, amputees, mobility aids.

MedScape Reference
An online clinical reference providing in-depth drug & disease information and tools to support clinical decision making. Content is designed for practicing medical professionals and includes diagnostic medical images. Free Registration to MedScape is required. To avoid registering and go straight to an entry in this resource, try Googling the word emedicine and your disease/condition (i.e. emedicine heart failure).

Physical Therapy-Related Information Websites

American Physical Therapy Association
An excellent resource for the PT professional. Includes information on recent research in the field, career information, clinical information, legal notes and much more.

Disability Resources from the U.S. Department of Labor
Access to disability-related information and resources.

How to Try This: Assessments and Best Practices in Care of Older Adults
The Hartford Institute for Geriatrics and the American Journal of Nursing present videos and written information about assessment tools, scales, and measurements used with older adults.

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is the Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on the diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine. NCCIH was formerly known as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

105 Premier Resources on Sports Injury Recovery
"These resources run the gamut from personal blogs about ligament tears, to research labs studying how to prevent traumatic brain injury in athletic contexts. These sites aren’t listed in any specific order."

PEDro
PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. PEDro is a free database of over 28,000 randomised trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.

Physical Therapy--The Web Space
A gateway resource for physical therapy professionals that includes links to learning resources and journals.

Physical Therapy Guide from About.com
This guide is created and maintained by a physical therapist on staff at About.com. This site contains both excellent and not-so-excellent resources, so choose carefully.

State of Illinois--Physical Therapy
Information on Physical Therapy professions licensed by the Illinois Division of Professional Regulation.

Browsing the Collection

Use the Library catalog to search the COD Library's collection of books, videos, e-books, and streaming media. Use your COD Library card to check these items out or access them online.

Call Number Searching

Another strategy is to search by call number. Health-related materials are shelved in the "R" section of libraries that use the Library of Congress classification system.

Physical Therapy books are located in several call number areas.

Some rehabilitation books are located in other areas of the "R" section if they deal with specific age groups (ie. pediatric rehabilitation is found in the RJ section). Physical therapy books may also be classified according to specific regions of the body (i.e. knee or back) or by disease/condition (i.e. therapy for stroke). Use the Library catalog to locate the call number areas for these types of physical therapy resources.

There are two locations for "print" or physical material (videos or software) in the C.O.D. Library: the reference collection (items don't leave the Library) and the general stacks (items that you can take home). Library staff members will be happy to help you find books in either section--just ask!

Reference Materials

Reference materials are well indexed, up-to-date, concise, and highly credible. They provide overviews, definitions, specific information (such as causes & symptoms, diagnosis, treatments, prognosis, etc) or addresses. Types of reference books include: directories, dictionaries and encyclopedias, basic health books (describing diseases and conditions), and drug resources. Since you cannot normally take these materials home, remember that you will have to photocopy, or write down the information that you need. Some reference materials are available full text, online via our databases. Below are some examples of the types of reference books found in the C.O.D. reference collection.

Some of these resources are designed for consumers (such as the Johns Hopkins or Mayo Clinic health books), some for health students and consumers (the Gale Encyclopedia series), and some for health professionals (Cecil or Harrison's), so the type and level of information differs to suit each audience. Some reference works are available in Spanish language versions.

Reference Best Bets

Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary
REF R 121.D73 2012 (Ready Reference--located at our reference desks)

Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 4th edition
REF RC 41 .G35 2011 ONLINE ACCESS*
* This link will allow you to simultaneously search all of the specialized Gale Encyclopedias available in the Gale Virtual Reference Library database

Melloni's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 4th edition
REF R121 .D76 2002

Merriam-Webster Online Medical Dictionary (select medical reference, includes audio pronunciations)

Goldman's Cecil Medicine
REF RC46 .C423 2016

Conn's Current Therapy
REF RM101 .C87

Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment
REF RC71 .A14

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
REF RC46 .H333 2015

Streaming Health & Medical Videos

You must have a valid College of DuPage library card to access these video databases from off-campus.

Academic Video Online
A diverse collection of full-length streaming videos. A wide-range of disciplines are included. Most useful is the Health & Health Care collection. Also included in the subscription are full transcripts of each video program that are keyword searchable, easy playlist and clip making functionality, permanent embeddable URLs for easy use in online courses.

Nursing Education in Video
Nursing Education in Video is an online collection of videos created specifically for the education and training of nurses, nursing assistants, and other healthcare workers. All of the videos in the collection have been created with the guidance of the Medcom-Trainex advisory board, and are regularly reviewed for accuracy, currency, and compliance with US Federal regulations from agencies such as OSHA and CMS.

Rehabilitation Therapy in Video
Rehabilitation Therapy in Video is a collection of video materials for the study of occupational therapy, physical/physiotherapy, and speech-language pathology. The collection allows students and faculty to easily find, cite, and share footage of top clinicians and academics explaining the underlying anatomical and neurological issues in specific patient populations, while demonstrating effective techniques and methods for their treatment.

Sports Medicine And Exercise Science In Video
Sports Medicine and Exercise Science in Video is the most extensive video collection ever assembled in the areas of fitness and health assessment, disease management, injury treatment, nutrition, medical fitness, sport science, work-site wellness, exercise adherence, and much more.

Remember that additional DVDs, CD-ROMs and health-related multimedia resources can be found by searching the COD Library catalog. Use your COD Library card to check these items out for in-library, home viewing, or online access (depending on availability).

Anatomical Models

Anatomical Models are available at the Library circulation desk.

For even more assistance with anatomy & physiology, check out the COD Library's Anatomy & Physiology Research Guide!

This guide is a starting point for locating Physical Therapist Assistant and Physical Therapy books, videos, journal articles, images and credible websites.

The menu on the right will help you research, locate, evaluate and cite resources in APA style.

Ask Your Health Science Librarian

Do you need help finding information on a specific topic? In addition to using our face-to-face, online and phone Ask A Librarian options, you may call or email me to set up an appointment or to explain what you need (I can often help you via email). Please remember that while I can assist you in finding information and can educate you about locating and citing quality health resources, I cannot diagnose or recommend treatment for specific conditions or diseases. I also cannot interpret assignments--ask your instructor! I will always refer specific medical and assignment-related questions back to your health care provider or instructor. Your questions will be kept in confidence and your privacy will be respected.