Section IV, Using Information Resources... Nursing -- Old Dominion University Perry Library

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SECTION IV: FINDING OTHER RESOURCES

A. REFERENCE MATERIALS

Reference materials include dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, directories, handbooks, and manuals. They can serve several functions in nursing research:

provide background information for refining a topic (e.g., encyclopedias, dictionaries).
provide contacts with specialists in your area of research (e.g., directories).
provide factual information to support your research (e.g., statistics).
provide data essential to your research (e.g., drug information).

Various reference materials are available in print at ODU Library or in libraries in your area. You may identify them by browsing appropriate call number areas (e.g., RT for Nursing) in the reference stacks, or by searching the Subject Headings in the online catalog (e.g., Medicine--Dictionaries, Nursing--Handbooks).

Many reference resources are available online. Examples of these resources are:

The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 17th edition
National Center for Health Statistics

For links to many reference resources in health and medicine on the Web, use the Resources listing on the ODU Libraries Home Page to go to General Reference Sources, or to Subject Guides and then Health, Medicine & Nursing.

Next: InfoTrac's Health Reference Center is another reference source

For further information contact Karen Vaughan (kvaughan@odu.edu)
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