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Important Announcement: The New Library System and updated E-resource login process are Here!. As part of OhioLINK, Ohio's academic library consortium, the NEOMED Library is updating its 30-year-old shared systems. The new system allows researchers to "discover" print and electronic resources with a single search. Click here to start using the new system. Additionally, we have also changed the way that you all will login for off-campus access to the electronic resources provided by the NEOMED Library. All NEOMED students, faculty, clinical faculty, staff, and retirees, will click on the "Login using your NEOMED Network credentials" link on the login page. From there, you will be routed through NEOMED's network login process using the same login credentials that you use for logging into your email, Sharepoint, and other essential NEOMED networked resources. Please be patient with us as we get everything situated for your use and contact us with any questions at 330-325-6600 or e-mail library@neomed.edu for help.

Library Resources for BIOMED Academy students

Selected resources from the NEOMED library for BIOMED Academy students.

Develop a Research Plan

  1.  Make sure you understand the assignment
  2. Select a topic
  3. Develop your topic into a manageable focus
  4. Determine what types of information you need
  5. Determine how to locate those types of information sources
  6. Create effective search strategies for retrieving the needed information from the appropriate databases
  7. Begin gathering together sources of information to create a working bibliography
  8. Evaluate the sources of information and select the best to use in your assignment
  9. Create citations for the sources you have selected

Understand Keywords

Keywords

Using keywords effectively is an important step in learning how to find articles.  Several tips for deciding which keywords to use are:

  • Focus on the main ideas in your research question
    • For example in the research question, "What are the benefits of using electric cars as opposed to gas-powered cars?", the main ideas are electric cars and gas-powered cars.
  • Know what fields the database you're using searches - does it search just the title, abstract, and author-supplied keywords or does it search the full text of the article?
  • Use vocabulary that is appropriate for the type of article you are looking for - newspapers use more general vocabulary, but scholarly articles use more academic terms.

All of these things will impact how well your keywords will match up with what you are trying to find.

Background Information

Using reference information sources

Reference information sources can be helpful when beginning the research process. They can give you a working knowledge of your chosen subject area.

  • You can gain a broad and general understanding of the topic, or background information.
  • You can learn the important names, key facts, issues and debates, and answers to questions.
  • You can get familiar with the vocabulary of the subject area so you can understand new terminology and formulate good keyword searches.

Types of reference information sources

There are many different kinds of reference information sources, and each is useful for finding a certain type of information.

Dictionaries

Screenshot of part of a page of an online, subject-specific dictionary. The entry being displayed is "glass ceiling."

  • Provide word definitions and other information about words. There are many other types of dictionaries. 
    • A bilingual dictionary translations from one language to another.
    • A thesaurus contains synonyms, and often antonyms, for words.
    • An etymological dictionary contains historical word origins.
    • A subject dictionary is a good source for longer and more in-depth definitions using the vocabulary of a particular area of study.

Encyclopedias

Screenshot of part of the Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. The entry is "ethnobotany."

  • Provide brief articles explaining a topic. There are general encyclopedias like Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia. There are also subject-specific encyclopedias that provide detailed, advanced and technical content in a particular area of study.

Atlases

Screenshot of part of a page of an atlas, showing a map and some text. The map is labeled "The Perfume Routes of Antiquity" and is too small to read anything else.

  • Contain maps that associate different types of data (e.g., populations, politics, etc.) with geography. There are different types of maps available.
    • Political maps show countries, states or provinces, counties, cities, towns, and villages.
    • Road maps show streets, roads, and highways.
    • Topographical maps show the lay of the land.
    • Demographic maps show population statistics.
    • Historical maps compare geographical and political information across eras.

Gazetteers

Screenshot of part of a page of a gazetteer.

  • Contain geographical information (often using latitude and longitude coordinates) that is cross-referenced with demographic, political, historical, and other kinds of information. Gazetteers may be included in atlases but there are also standalone gazetteers that do not contain maps.

Almanacs

Screenshot of part of a page of The Nonprofit Almanac 2012. The text is cut off but it seems to explain the scope, sources, and limitations of the data in the chapter.

  • Annual publications that contain time sensitive information about geography and politics, economic data, astronomical data, world records, tides, weather, statistics, etc.

Directories

Screenshot of part of a page of a directory. It has the name of a company, address, and other contact information.

  • Contain contact information for persons, organizations or companies. They may also contain descriptions of those entities.     
  • Some kinds of directories contain "how to locate" information for data or documents.

Biographical Resources

  • Screenshot of part of a page from Biography Resource Center. The entry is on Ben Carson and gives his basic personal and career information. The contents menu is on the left of the text about the person.Contain information about the lives and accomplishments of notable people in various fields of achievement or areas of study. 

Manuals

Screenshot of part of the Manual of Psychosocial Rehabilitation. This page is about symptom rating scales.

  • Contain technical how-to information on everything from operating a device to performing a sophisticated task, such as repairing a car.         

Handbooks and Guides

Screenshot of a page in The Neuropsychology Handbook.

  • Contain detailed, advanced information about a particular subject area. This can include facts about a subject or instructions for operating a device or completing a procedure.

Guides to the Literature and Annotated Bibliographies

Screenshot of the cover of Libraries and Information in the Arab World: An Annotated Bibliography.

  • List and describe information sources (e.g., books, articles, etc.) in a particular subject area.
  • They may be exhaustive (include everything) or selective.
  • Bibliographies of web resources are sometimes called Internet bibliographies or pathfinders.​.

Do not cite reference information sources

Do not cite reference books, such as dictionaries or encyclopedias, or textbooks because they do not contain original research. They are what we call tertiary sources (more on that later), which means that they are based on original research from multiple sources. When you are writing a paper, you should be citing original sources, not sources based on them.

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