Academic Success Strategies
for Health Career Education

Getting to this page:

• Go to the Library home page ( libwww.cabrillo.edu)
• Click on Internet Links, then click on Medicine
• Scroll down to Course Related Materials and click on ALH 200E

Finding a book on a topic is often the best way to begin researching a subject. In addition, you can use the Library catalog to find eBooks (electronic books), videos, and textbooks for specific classes.

• From the Cabrillo Library home page ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
• Click on Library Catalog
• Click on WORDS, for a broad general search
• Try the following searches :
  • anatomy and atlas
  • nursing and career*
• Find an interesting book on one of these topics, and fill in the following:
  • Author's name_________________________________________________
  • Title _________________________________________________________
  • Call number __________________________________________________

Every information resource has its own search methods for you to use, from point-and-click handholding to lots of refinement and focusing options for zeroing in on just the right information. One of the most powerful search tools is called Boolean searching, a fancy way of saying you can use AND, OR, and NOT logic.

The search fluoride and water narrows your search to items that contain both terms.	The search fluoride or water broadens your search to items that contain either term.	The search fluoride not water narrows your search to items that only contain fluoride, and do not contain water.

This logic may look different in different search tools, but it always works as described above. You can often use parentheses to separate the concepts in your search to make sure the computer does not get confused. Here are few examples of boolean searching in various information sources:

• Cabrillo Library Catalog: nursing and (profession or occupation or careers)
• Google search engine: nursing profession OR occupation OR careers
• AlltheWeb search engine: nursing AND (careers profession occupation)

Other useful techniques, available in many search tools:

• Use quotes around 2+ words that MUST belong together: "medical assisting", "santa cruz"
• Use a symbol (usually the asterisk *) to pick up all words beginning with your term: fluorid* would pick up fluoride, fluoridation, fluoridating, fluoridated, etc.

OK, now try to build a search using all of the above techniques to find information on forest fires in the Pacific Northwest:

_________________________________________________________________________________

Over 90% of the magazines and journals the Cabrillo Library subscribes to are available online. There are thousands of publications covered in various databases, and you can often find very focused articles on almost any topic. The two primary magazine and journal article databases available at Cabrillo are EBSCOhost Academic Search Elite, a general database covering many different subject areas, and InfoTrac Health Reference Center, focusing on more specialized health publications.

EBSCOhost Academic Search Elite

• From the library homepage ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
• Click on Fulltext Articles (if you are off-campus, you will need to enter your library card barcode number)
• Click on EBSCOhost Web
• Try these searches:
  • "nursing shortage" and california
  • fluorid* and water
• You can also restrict your searches to fulltext articles only, or to scholarly publications, etc.

Find an interesting article and fill out the following:

Author name _______________________________________________________

Article title _________________________________________________________

Name of journal/magazine ____________________________________________

Date, volume, issue, page(s) __________________________________________

InfoTrac Health Reference Center

• From the library homepage ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
• Click on Fulltext Articles (if you are off-campus, you will need to enter your library card barcode number)
• Click on Health Reference Center, then click on Proceed
• Try the same searches:
  • "nursing shortage" and california
  • fluorid* and water

Find an interesting article and fill out the following:

Author name _______________________________________________________

Article title _________________________________________________________

Name of journal/magazine ____________________________________________

Date, volume, issue, page(s) __________________________________________

There is so much information available on the Internet, but the challenge is often knowing where to start! The Cabrillo College Library maintains a collection of Internet Links pages, where you can find many kinds of website links on a topic: general links, specialized links, campus department links, and links to exercises like this one.

• From the library homepage ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
• Click on Internet Links
• Click on and explore the links on one of the following pages:
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Medicine

Pick an interesting link from one of these pages and fill out the following:

Name of website _______________________________________________________

Internet address http://___________________________________________________

Why is it interesting? ____________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

5. Using Search Engines to Find Web Pages -- The more skilled the user, the better the tool works

Search engines such as Google are powerful automated portals into much larger portions of the Internet. Each search engine provides its own collection of searching tools and techniques.  

• Start at Google's main page (www.google.com)
• Type your search terms in the dialog box
• Click on the Search button
• Search tips:
  • Singular and plural forms of words must be searched separately
  • Put multi-word phrases in quotes, e.g., "coca cola," "green frog," etc.
  • Use OR to include equivalent concepts/words, e.g. water fluoride OR fluoridation OR fluoridate
  • Narrow your search by domain or website, e.g., allied health site:cabrillo.edu, physics tutorials site:edu

Anyone can publish on the Web. Does that mean that  anyone can produce good, reliable information? It is very important to evaluate what you find. In searching the web, you want to use resources that are not only current (if necessary) and relevant to your topic, but also from reliable, believable sources. Ask yourself questions like:

• Who produces or runs the website?
• Is there any obvious bias? Are they trying to persuade you, or sell you something?
• Can you tell where their information comes from? Remember, anyone can claim anything!
• Is the website "sponsored," e.g. did they pay to be listed in a search engine?

Take a look at the following:

Human Male Pregnancy Electrocuted by Cellphone Verizon and the Environment

Georg Romero, 3/06