This guide is intended as a research tool to help you locate tertiary, secondary and primary resources on a variety of specific diseases.

Tertiary/ Background Information

• http://www.nytimes.com/pages/health/index.html
  Search by disease or topic; offers in-depth overviews including risk factors, genetics, treatment, currents news & research.
• http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/health_medicine/
  Search by disease or topic; science newspaper; highlights current ‘Health & Medicine News’. Search by A-Z disease or keyword index; links to abstracts and full text articles sometimes provided.
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html
  Guide to health topics provided by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health; overviews, research, treatment and links of journal articles within PubMed provided.

Secondary Information; 2 types:

1st type; Textbooks and other current pathophysiology titles; (use chapters and indexes to reference your disease)

These titles may be found in the reference area; ask a librarian for help if needed. These books do not circulate.

• Applied genetics in healthcare. c2005.
• The asthma educator’s handbook. c2007.
• Biology of disease. c2007.
• Case studies in infectious disease. c2010.
• Cell physiology. c2006.
• Clinical applications of pathophysiology. 3rd ed. 2 copies. c2006.
• The endocrine system at a glance. 2nd ed. c2006.
• Essential medical physiology. 2nd ed. c1998.
• Fundamentals of human physiology. c2009.
• Human physiology. 5th ed. c2010.
• The immune system. 3rd ed. 2 copies. c2009.
• Medical physiology. c1995.
• Molecular biology of the cell. 5th ed. c2008.
• Molecular cell biology. 6th ed. c2008.
• Obesity epidemiology. c2008.
• Pathophysiology : the biologic basis for disease in adults and children. 5th ed. c2006.
• Pathophysiology : concepts of altered health states. 8th ed. c2009.
• Pathophysiology of heart disease. 4th ed. c2007.
• Physiology. 2nd ed. c1996.
• Pulmonary pathophysiology. c1995.
• Pulmonary physiology and pathophysiology. c2001.
• Primer on the rheumatic diseases. 13th ed. c2008.
• Problem-based physiology. c2010.
• Respiratory physiology : the essentials. 6th ed. c2000.
• Respiratory physiology : the essentials. 7th ed. c2005.

2nd type; Review Articles (found within scientific journals using online databases)

• MEDLINE/Ebsco: National Library of Medicine; provides abstracts and full text links to 4,800 biomedical journals; search by disease or MeSH (Medical Subject Heading); scroll down and check the box for ‘Review Articles’.
• Ebsco/Academic Search Premier: 4,650 full text journals; search by disease; try adding ‘review’ into a search term field.
• PubMed Central: U.S. National Institutes of Health; free full text journal collection; search by disease; use ‘advanced search’ option and limit search to ‘Research/Review Articles’.

Primary Research

PubMed:
PubMed; National Library of Medicine; includes 18 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals and biomedical articles; includes links to full text articles if available; VERY large database.

Also, all databases listed above to locate review articles should be used to locate primary papers, but don’t limit search to review/overview articles. (**In PubMed Central only continue to use the ‘Research/Review Articles’ option; once in your search remember that you are now looking for primary articles, not review articles, for this portion of the assignment.

Tips

Now it is very important to look for studies/primary papers/the original work of the researchers. This is the work that may have been summarized in the review articles or referenced earlier in the tertiary articles. Look for the format of primary/scientific work:

Title; Authors; Abstract; Introduction; MMM (Methodology/Materials/Methods); Analysis of Results/Discussion; References.

It might be helpful to think about adding variables/other terms to your search; otherwise you may have too many articles. Consider treatment, specific genes or cellular mechanisms as terms to combine for better search results.

Tips: How do you decide which primary articles are the most important, the ones to include in your paper?

As you are beginning your research, take time to carefully examine tertiary and review articles. Make note of the names of researchers whose names continue to appear. Often researchers will devote most of their lives to the study of (or aspect of) a particular disease and you will notice that the same names reappear. Background and review articles will often cite the most important historical research in addition to more recent breakthroughs, so make note of research which is referenced often and follow links. Literature reviews, which are found at the beginning of primary papers, can be an excellent starting point because they summarize previous primary research. Sometimes an older paper may continue to be the seminal research on a disease. Read through review articles and research carefully.

Don’t choose the first articles you see! Be picky. If you find that a primary article you want to use for your paper isn’t available full text within the databases provided above please see a librarian for help.

Updated 1/29/09 SW