UNCW - Randall Library

REFERENCE MATERIALS
These resources can help you become familiar with a topic and identify the keyterms related to your topic.

Current Med Talk A dictionary of medical terms, slang & jargon. REF R 121 .S4287 1995	Mosby's Medical, Nursing, & Allied Health Dictionary Dictionary REF R 121 .M89 1994
Encyclopedia of Human Biology REF QP 11 .E53 1991 Encyclopedia intended for a wide audience, i.e., from general readers to researchers and scientists. Entries give outline of the subject content covered, glossary, and bibliography.	The Oxford Companion to Medicine Dictionary REF R121 .O88 1986
Magill's Medical Guide : Health and Illness Encyclopedia REF RC41 .M34 1995	Also located in Reference is the recommended style manual to be used for this course: Publication manual of the American Psychological Association Location: Ready Reference BF76.7 .P82 1994

Library Catalog
Search for materials in Randall Library by using the online Library Catalog located in the middle of the Randall Library homepage [http://library.uncwil.edu]. Searching the Library Catalog will give you call numbers and locations for books, maps, N. C. documents, U.S. Government documents, special collections, microforms, music scores, periodicals titles, audiovisual materials, reserve materials and the Curriculum Materials Center materials help in the Library.

Using your skills learned from the Search Strategy worksheet, use those basic key terms to search the library catalog using the Keyword search option.

Results list will provide titles of items found, click on the underlined title for the full record. There are 3 important items to look at in the items record:

LOCATION - what collection the item is in determines the location and if the item can be checked out of the library. e.g., General Collection on the second floor can be checked out while the Reference Collection on the first floor can not be checked out.
CALL # - provides exact location of the item within the collection.
STATUS - "AVAILABLE" means item is on the shelf and "DUE" with the date it is due back to the library.

Check out for undergraduates is 21 days and the check-out desk is located next to the exit/entrance doors of the Library. You must have your university id card in order to check-out materials.

Article Databases/Indexes
Article indexes provide citations (e.g., author, title, a journal name, volume, issue, page numbers, etc.) to identify articles. Most indexes also include abstracts (summaries) and a small handful of online indexes provide selected full text of the actual article. The Library does not own every article cited in each index so remember to check the Library Catalog to verify if we own the journal the article was published in.

SPORTDiscus: International citations on exercise, physiology, physical education and fitness, sports and sports medicine. Guide to SPORTDiscus
CINAHL: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health. Guide to CINAHL
ERIC: Journal articles and reports in education. Guide to ERIC
MEDLINE: Indexes and abstracts biomedical literature.
PsycInfo: Indexes and abstracts journal articles and book chapters in psychology and behavioral sciences. Guide to PsycInfo
EBSCOHost - Academic Search FullTEXT Elite: Indexing and abstracts of scholarly journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education and more. Some full text.
InfoTrac OneFile: Indexing and abstracts of some peer reviewed/scholarly journals on a wide range of topics. Some full text.

Web-Site Evaluation
The reliability and quality of information from Web sources has created much debate in the academic world. Researchers must always remember that the Web is a vast, unregulated information resource that ANYONE with the proper tools and a little money can create a site on the Web. When viewing a site for research purposes, users can and should perform a Web-site analysis by consider the some of the following points taken from "Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources" - UCLA College Library:

Who is the author of the page or site? Does the author appear to be qualified to write about the topic?
Is the site affiliated with any institution, company, or organization? If so, does this affiliation add bias to the information? Or, does it suggest that the source is credible?
Does the information seem unreasonably or unfairly biased in any way? (Avoid any sites that appear to be advertising a product or service.)
Who is the intended audience? Is the information for a specialized or general audience?
When was the site created or last modified? Is the design of the site effective? Is it easy to navigate the site? Do links to other sites work?

Helpful Information
Off Campus Access to Library Resources
UNCW Students and Faculty may access Databases from Home. If you are NOT on campus, you must have a library PIN number.

PIN Number:
To set a PIN (Personal Identification Number) on your library record, simply click on the "My Library Record" link on the Library homepage and follow the instructions. In addition to using your PIN for home access to library resources you need to have a PIN number when printing out certain electronic reserves.

Inter-Library Loan (ILL)
ILL is a free service to UNCW students, faculty, staff and administration through which research materials (articles, books, etc.) not owned by Randall Library may be borrowed from other library collections. Allow up to two weeks for delivery of materials. Photocopies are mailed directly to your campus mailbox. Pickup notices for books are mailed to your campus address as well. ILL materials are requested online from the ILL webpage [http://library.uncwil.edu/ill_home.htm]. Before using ILL, check the Library Catalog and the appropriate electronic databases. If the material you need is not available in any of these sources, you may request the item using one of the above listed forms.
Last Update: December 12, 2005

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