EN 370 Literature and Medicine (Sibara): Voices from the Margins

SCHOLARLY JOURNALS:

• provide in-depth analysis or report original research
• use source citations
• are written by and for scholars
• peer-reviewed articles are preferred in academic research

Look for options in databases to limit your results to articles in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. 

Databases can contain multiple types of material. Some databases also have options to limit your results to magazines, newspapers, book reviews, etc. Start by defining your need then search in chunks by selecting material formats.

Colby Libraries Newspaper Guide - U.S. & international, current & historical

Also available: Free individual subscriptions to the full color digital editions of the NYT, WSJ and Waterville Morning Sentinel

• ENGLISH
• MEDICINE & HEALTH
• PSYCHOLOGY
• PUBLIC HEALTH
• SOCIOLOGY
• Other Subject Guides
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Evaluating Sources
• Search Strategies

Use an ASTERISK to stand in for different word endings: discrimin* = discriminate, discriminates, discrimination

Use QUOTATION MARKS to "glue together" a phrase:  "health care" 

Use PARENTHESES with OR to search synonyms:  (poor OR poverty)

TOO FEW RESULTS? Add similar terms in an OR phrase. Use broader search terms.

TOO MANY RESULTS? Zero in on concepts by adding words using AND. Try more precise terms.

KEYWORDS often require an exact match of letters entered. It's not about meaning. 

A big part of research is SEARCHING FOR THE BEST SEARCH TERMS

Use SUBJECT HEADINGS to find articles/books tagged as being about that subject

Sample Subject Headings in CBBcat (limited in 2nd drop-down to books & e-books):

• Health and Race
• Discrimination in Medical Care
• Racism Health Aspects
• Poverty Health Aspects
• Viramontes, Helena María
• Petry, Ann

Note that people can also be subjects. Use the Subject drop-down with last name, first name.

CITATION TRAILS

Check the notes, references and bibliographies of every relevant article or book to find more sources.

Put the titles of sources in Google Scholar or Scopus and click on Cited By to find out who is citing a work.

This is going back and forward in time to follow a scholarly conversation.

Search for physical and digital books, films and other media in our library catalog.

To identify SCHOLARLY BOOKS, investigate/examine the:

• author (university affiliation, research specialty)
• publisher (academic or university press)
• writing style & intended audience
• arguments, analysis, study methodology
• notes, references, bibliography

REMOTE LEARNING: look for a small circular red E in the icons to the left of your results . These are online resources.

Or use the drop-downs on the CBBcat search page, for a more precise search.

ON CAMPUS: Order books for Miller pickup by clicking CBB Request in an item record. Miller Library bookstacks are also physically accessible when the library is open.