Ohlone College Library Orientation
English 151B - Sharon Radcliff

Introduction to Library Research Tools
Sample Topic: Health Care Comparisons

Step One: Search HANS to find books and ebooks in the Ohlone College Library

• Try a subject heading search on health care, follow the prompts to see the "authorized" subject headings used for this concept in HANS.
• Some of our books are available to read online - limit your keyword search to electronic books to find them. Examples:
  • Crossing the quality chasm a new health system for the 21st century
  • World Health Systems

Step Two: Search for magazine, journal and newspaper articles.

To find magazine and newspaper articles use a periodical database. We subscribe to a number of these, each with slightly different strengths, weaknesses, and rules for searching. Your topic will determine which are the best databases to use for your search. Examples:

CQ Researcher

• What is it?
  • Database of good in-depth but introductory articles about topical issues.
• Search directly by keyword, e.g.: health care.

SIRS

• Good, selective coverage on Social Issues.
• Search by subject heading using "Medical care"

Newsbank America's Newspapers

• Find newspaper articles from accross the country.
• Compare coverage of this issue in different parts of the country.
• Narrow down with additional keywords.

Ebscohost Academic Search Premier

• What is it?
  • Database containing both full-text and citation/abstract only articles
  • Scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic journal articles AND popular magazine articles
• Can narrow down results by suggested subject headings (left-margin)
• Can limit search results to just full-text, to peer-reviewed.

All in one! Central Search

	Title Author Full Text Keyword Subject ISSN Any
	More Central Search Options

• New Tool! We are still fine-tuning; you can help us with feedback.
• Find Books, Journal Articles, Web sites, all with a single search across multiple databases.
• Nice Features: "One-Stop Shopping," Discover new resources, Full-text filter, subject clustering.
• Discovery Tool: Best to use as a first step, to identify good databases and quickly see scope of results.
• By default, search is looking for words in the title (you can change this).
• More detailed and focused searching will be available from individual database interfaces.
• Access selected resources from Library home page ("Quick Search" is limited to our online catalog, HANS, and our periodical databases)
• Access all resources and fine-tune search from main Central Search interface.

Step Three: Internet Sources

Health, United States is an annual report on trends in health statistics, from the National Center for Health Statistics (CDC).

CIA World Fact Book (source for basic health statistics for other countries)

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Dept. of Health and Human Services)

Gallup Poll results on Healthcare topics

Lii.org - Librarians' Internet Index