Honours in the Division of Health Sciences

Introduction

This is a guide to using the Library's website, together with a strategy for searching the catalogue, databases and the internet.

Evidence Based Search Methods

The Strategies for Successful Research workshop series provides two online workshops related to evidence based research. The first workshop is called Evidence based health care - introduction and the second is Evidence based health care - searching databases.

Library Catalogue

Search the catalogue (opens in new window) for Library resources including books, journals, dvds and website links. The catalogue is essential in any search for information. Look at the online video for more information.

You can use the online form to suggest new resources such as books and other materials to be purchased for the Library collection.

Summon

Summon is a good starting point to find material for your research. Find information on any topic from the UniSA Library’s collection of print and electronic books, journals, theses, newspapers and conference proceedings. Summon simultaneously searches the Library catalogue, the UniSA Research Archive, and the content from numerous academic databases.

You can search Summon from the Library website or from your Smartphone.

Finding honours theses

The Library holds some, but not all UniSA Honours theses. To find Honours theses in Summon:

  1. Search for hons and the school or topic words, eg

    hons "health sciences"
    hons nursing
    hons pharmacy

  2. At the results screen, use the Refine options to limit to Content type: Dissertation.

    Summon refine dissertations [Image source: UniSA Library]


  3. Then Refine your search to Items in the library catalog to find UniSA titles.

    Summon refine in catalogue [Image source: UniSA Library]


  4. Using our examples:

    hons "health sciences" (opens in new window)
    hons nursing (opens in new window)
    hons pharmacy (opens in new window)

Physiotherapy and Podiatry theses
These theses cover 2008 – 2010 and have links to the pdf.

The online workshop Finding Research Proposals and Theses has more information.

Databases

Library databases are indexes to journal articles, conference papers, and reports. Search databases to find quality resources on your topic that you may not find on the internet. Refer to the Database subject headings list for a comprehensive listing.

Key databases we recommend that you search include

  • CINAHL - a bibliographic database covering international literature in nursing and allied health
  • EMBASE - a medical database with particularly good coverage of drug literature. The emphasis is on European sources
  • Informit Health Collection - contains Australian information covering various aspects of health and medicine
  • MEDLINE - The United States National Library of Medicine's bibliographic database covering medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and biomedical sciences. Also freely available as PubMed
  • Scopus - excellent multidisciplinary database which includes information on who has cited the research since it has been published
  • Web of Science - elite multidisciplinary database which includes information on who has cited the research since it has been published.

Key secondary evidence-based databases include:

Useful databases for news coverage and documentaries:

Link to the Databases by subject list - Evidence based health care for more databases.

Obtaining the full text

If you have found a reference and the full text of the article is not available, the Find it button may link you to the full text. Refer to the find a full text article using Find it guide (PDF 600kb, opens in new window), for more information.

If this option does not find the full text:

  • Identify the type of reference - journal article; book; book chapter; conference paper; thesis
  • Identify the source of the reference, for example
    • for a journal article, the source is the title of the journal
    • for a book chapter, the source is the title of the book
  • Search the Library catalogue (opens in new window) to find out if the Library holds the source you have found in your search
  • Search other library catalogues, such as the University of Adelaide, (opens in new window) Flinders University (opens in new window) or a library to which you have access
  • Discuss with your supervisor - is it important for your research topic?
  • Lastly, if you still have not found the full text, contact the Health Sciences Academic Library Team and put forward your case to request the item via the Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loans Service

Internet Resources

You may also find suitable academic references using the internet:

  • ABS for Australian statistics
  • Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (opens in new window) is an online register of clinical trials being undertaken in Australia and New Zealand. It is essential to check here to make sure that no-one else is researching your topic.
  • Scirus (opens in new window) is a specialised science search engine

The internet contains an enormous amount of material and there is no overall quality control on the web. You need to carefully evaluate the websites you find.

Other Resources

  • Managing references - bibliographic management software enables you to create a database of your references, and use them to create a bibliography or reference list in a Word document. EndNote and RefWorks are available at UniSA. Refer to the online help, videos and guides for more information, including:
  • Online training - these online learning resources support your learning 24 hours a day 7 days a week

Obtaining Assistance

  • Contact the Health Sciences Academic Library Services Team by email
  • Use the Help, tips or hints within resources
  • Ask the Library either face to face via the Service Desk at any campus library or online via the Ask the Library email service
Latest content revision: Wednesday, 9 May 2012