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Finding Health Information: A Path Through the Maze: Cases

This tutorial gives you an overview of key basic concepts and techniques for accessing health information using several online tools and databases.

Created by Health Science Librarians

Case Study 1: Alcoholism

Jane has to write a public health pamphlet about alcoholism. She knows very little about this disease, since no one she knows personally is an alcoholic. Jane needs to find an introduction to alcoholism so she can decide what aspect of the disease is most interesting to her.

Jane will use the Catalog to research her topic.

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Case Study 2: Allergies

Rob has some serious allergies, and has taken a variety of anti-allergy medicines over the last few years. He wants to know more about allergies in general, and in the different medicines he's taken in specific. So far Rob knows only what he's picked up in the doctor's office, including to what he's probably allergic and the names of the drugs he's taken for his symptoms.

Rob will use Databases and MedlinePlus to research his topic.

Case Study 3: Diabetes

Cheryl is working on a research paper on exercise therapies and management plans for teenagers with diabetes. She's been working on this paper for a few weeks now and feels pretty confident that she knows the basic information about diabetes management with exercise. She now needs peer-reviewed articles that discuss this topic.

Cheryl will use Peer Review, Databases, PubMed, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition to research her topic.