Introduction

Objectives | Contents | How to use this tutorial | Credits and Feedback

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

Objectives

By the time you complete this tutorial, you should be able to:

1. Describe strategies for choosing and using tools to find information on a disease or topic
2. Describe features of the following tools:
   • UNC-Chapel Hill Catalog
   • Health Source (Nursing/Academic Edition)
   • MedlinePlus
   • PubMed
3. Be able to access and use the tools listed above
4. Know where to go for help if you are having difficulty

Contents

This tutorial includes the following main sections:

Accessing Health Information describes strategies for accessing health information and introduces concepts of boolean searching.

Using the Catalog describes basics of using the UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries catalog.

E-Indexes & Databases explains how to access and use the UNC-Chapel Hill Electronic Indexes & Databases page.

Key Health Resources describes important online health information resources: MedlinePlus, PubMed, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition.

Quiz includes multiple-choice questions to test your knowledge of the material covered in this tutorial. Each time you answer a quiz question, you get immediate feedback.

This tutorial provides basic concepts and instructions. For more in-depth discussion of Boolean searching, see the Boolean Searching supplement to this tutorial. For an in-depth discussion of evaluating online resources, see HSL's tutorial Evaluating Online Information.

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How to Use this Tutorial

• We will use examples from three case studies to help explain why and how you would use the key resources in health sciences research
• This tutorial includes audio clips to supplement the screen presentation. Wherever you see the audio icon click to hear an expert librarian explain a concept or technique.
  Note: When you click on the icon, a new window will open to play the sound clip. You can move or resize this window, or close it to go back to the tutorial page. In some cases, depending on how your computer is set up, you may be required to download the sound file before you can listen to it. Transcripts for each audio file are available by clicking on the transcript icon .
• After you've finished working through the tutorial, go to the quiz to test your knowledge of material. Once you finish the quiz, you will be able to print out a certificate showing that you have completed the Finding Health Information tutorial.

Credits and Feedback

This tutorial was created by Health Sciences Library Education Services staff. Audio presentations by Monecia Samuel. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please send feedback to Julia Shaw-Kokot at jsk@med.unc.edu. Thanks!