HEA 339 - The University Libraries

Research Orientation for HEA 339

Encyclopedias: background information

If you are fuzzy about the details of your topic (which pathogens or other agents cause food safety concerns?), check an encyclopedia. Health-related encyclopedias often include a discussion of risk factors. Some* of the encylopedias listed below are searchable through the online Gale Virtual Reference Library

Encyclopedia of Public Health. Reference Room RA423 .E53 2002 (4 vols)
*Encyclopedia of Health & Behavior. Reference Room R726.5 .E53 2004 (2 vols)
Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion. Stacks RA427.8 .E53 2003
*Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders. Reference Room RC437 .G35 2003 (2 vols)
*Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Reference Room RC41 .G35 2002 (5 vols)
Encyclopedia of Food Science and Nutrition. Reference Room TX349 .E47 2003 (10 vols)
Encyclopedia of Family Life. Reference Room HQ534 .E53 1999 (5 vols)
Medical Library Association Encyclopedic Guide to Searching and Finding Health Information on the Web. Reference Room R859.7.I58 M436 2004 (3 vols)

Government Websites: public health overviews and objectives

Healthy People 2010: The Healthy People 2010 document lists Objectives for Improving Health. These objectives include trends, risk factors (not always clearly marked in a separate section), and national statistics.

Table of contents: "Objectives for Improving Health" begin in Volume I and run continue through Volume II.

Suggested citation for Volume I and Volume II (scroll to bottom of page)

Healthy Carolinians: Includes a guide to North Carolina 2010 Health Objectives. These Objectives include background information, disparities, risk factors, and state-level statistics.

Use the drop-down menu to choose the 2010 Health Objective that most closely matches your focus area
There are fewer state level objectives than national objectives and the names differ

Evaluating Web Resources: Government websites are authoritative, but you will still want to keep an eye on currency, coverage (i.e., is this national or state-level information?), and other criteria used in evaluating web resources.

Databases: published research studies, reviews, and other articles

CINAHL (EBSCO): Search for articles discussing your topic and risk factors. For example:

food safety AND food handling
food safety AND risk factors

Other public health databases

Finding articles in scholarly journals: Scholarly journals vs. popular publications, using search connectors, using Journal Finder. For animated introductions to the research process, using CINAHL and Journal Finder, check the Nursing and Health Resources Tutorial.

Statistics

PHID Tutorial: Includes a great overview of statistics, from Internet portals to federal and state data sets.

Data 2010: Statistics by focus area at federal level and (if available) state level