Health Science 15

Human Sexuality

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 HS 15, W. Ostrow
1. Finding Books in the Cabrillo Library Catalog -- A solid place to start

Finding a book on a topic is often the best way to begin researching a subject. In addition, you can often find books targeting the level you're looking for: beginning, or advanced.

  • From the Cabrillo Library home page ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
  • Click on Library Catalog
  • Search in WORDS, for a broad general search
  • Search examples :
    • "human sexuality"
    • sex and cultur*
  • Use quotes around 2+ words that MUST belong together: "sexually transmitted"
  • Use an asterisk (*) to pick up all words beginning with your term: cultur* would pick up culture, cultures, cultural

Specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries are often exceptional sources of information on a topic.

3. Finding Magazine and Journal Articles -- Most Cabrillo magazines are online

There are thousands of publications covered in the Cabrillo 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 Premier, a general database covering many different subject areas, and EBSCOhost Health Source: Nursing/Academic, focusing on more specialized health publications.

EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier

  • From the library homepage ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
  • Click on Full Text Articles
  • Click on Academic Search Premier (from off-campus you will need to enter your library card barcode number)
  • Put a check mark in the box that reads Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals
  • Sample searches :
    • "cervical cancer"
    •  nudity
    • "abortion pill" or "ru-486"

Health Source: Nursing/Academic database

  • From the library homepage ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
  • Click on Full Text Articles
  • In the Health & Medicine category, click on Health Source Nursing/Academic (if you are off-campus, you will need to enter your library card barcode number)
  • Sample searches:
    • "cervical cancer"
    •  nudity
    • "abortion pill"
    • "ru 486"

In addition to subscription databases available through the Library, free public databases like MEDLINE are excellent sources of health information - if you know how to use them! If you find good articles in a database like this from publications Cabrillo does not own, you can come to the Library's Reference Desk and request a copy using our InterLibrary Loan service.

  • Start at PubMed (MEDLINE) main page (www.pubmed.gov)
  • Enter your search terms in the search box, and click on Go button
  • Search & display tips:
    • Use quotes around multi-word phrases, e.g. "genital mutilation"
    • Truncate with an asterisk (*) to find all terms beginning with the same letters, e.g. cultur*
    • Use boolean operators in all upper case (AND, OR, NOT) to combine concepts
    • Use Limits button to restrict your search by date, to a specific gender, age group, language, or to humans (vs animals)
    • Use the help links on the left side of the PubMed screen
    • Display drop-down box provides various display options
    • Use Citation display option to view medical subject headings (which you can then click on and add to your search, or look up the definition in the MESH directory)
4. Finding Web Pages -- Using collections of Internet Links

There is so much information available on the Internet, but the challenge is often knowing where to start! Directories of collected internet links on a topic can be excellent starting points. A directory of links can be small and focused, like the collection of Internet Links pages maintained by the Cabrillo Library, or it can be much, much larger, like the Google web directory.

  • From the Google homepage (www.google.com):
  • Click on the more>> link
  • Click on even more>>
  • Click on the Directory icon
  • From the top-level category list, click on Health
  • Click on the sub-category Reproductive Health
  • Explore!
5. Using Search Tools to Find Web Pages -- The more skilled the user, the better the tool works!

Search tools such as Google (a search engine) and Dogpile (a "meta-search" engine) are powerful automated portals into much larger portions of the Internet. Each search tool provides its own collection of searching options 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:
    • Put multi-word phrases in quotes, e.g., "cervical cancer"
    • Click on the Images link to see any pictures on your topic
    • Narrow your search by domain, e.g., "birth control" site:gov, "sexually transmitted diseases" site:cdc.gov
6. Evaluating Websites -- Is this stuff any good?

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:

Georg Romero, 9/06