This exercise is designed for:
PTH 121 (Physical Therapy)

It will cover three types of research tools:

• Catalog
• eBooks
• Databases
• Web Sites

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, click on Books & More (middle of the page).

Things to know about the catalog:

• It's used for finding books, DVDs, and videos in the seven NOVA libraries.
  
  
• You can search all seven NOVA libraries at once, or limit to one campus.
  
  
• You can do several kinds of searches in the catalog, including Subject (LC Subject) and Keyword (Anywhere).

Subject (LC Subject) Searching: This is the most precise kind of search. It is based on specific words that have been assigned to topics by librarians. Do this search when you have a general topic and you know (or can easily guess) the subject heading.

Example: the official subject heading for "cooking" is Cookery.

 

Keyword (Anywhere) Searching: Do this kind of search when you don't know the specific words that have been assigned to your topic, or when you want to search a combination of topics.

Take your research question and break it down into the most important words and phrases, and use AND in between.

 

Example #1:

Research Question: How many books/DVDs do the NOVA libraries have on physical therapy?

Hint: Physical therapy is a general topic. Try a Subject (LC) search.

Your search can be: physical therapy

 

Example #2:

Research Question: How many books/DVDs do the NOVA libraries have on stroke rehabilitation?

Hint: Now you are combining topics: stroke and rehabilitation. Try a Keywords (Anywhere) search.

Your search can be: stroke AND rehabilitation

 

The NOVA libraries subscribe to a number of e-book (electronic books) collections, several of which support the physical therapy assistant program.

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, click on the box in the middle of the page that says eBooks & eVideos.
   
   

You should see a menu that looks like this:

Things to know about eBooks:

• eBooks are electronic versions of printed books.

• You do not need to "check out" our eBooks. You can access them as long as you have an Internet connection and are a student at NOVA. If off-campus, log in using your myNOVA username and password (same ones you use to access Blackboard and email).

• Each eBook collection has different books. You can read the eBooks from cover to cover, view just selected chapters, or do a keyword search to find the pages that contain the information you need.

• No "check out" is required- the books are always there. Just log in and use them for as long as you want.

• Most collections will allow you to bookmark and print or email certain sections, but in limited quantities. Copyright restrictions do apply.
  

R2 Library and Stat!Ref have over 180 core titles in nursing and allied health. See also Gale Virtual Reference Library for medical encyclopedias and dictionaries, and NetLibrary.

• Databases are the best tools for finding articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers.
  
• Some of our databases also have e-books.
  
• Databases are very expensive, but NOVA students, faculty, and staff can use them for FREE.
  
  
• Using databases from off-campus:
  Because they are expensive, the databases are only for NOVA students and staff. You must enter a user ID and password to use databases from off-campus (it should be the same ID and password that you use to access myNova.

Database to try:

Health Reference Center Academic

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, click on Articles (middle of the page).
   
   
2. Scroll down to Health & Medicine and click on Allied Health & Nursing . You will see a list of databases that are useful for finding articles on Nursing and Allied Health.
   
   
3. Select the database called Health Reference Center Academic.

Do a search!

Let's say you are interested in finding articles on a topic in physical therapy, but you're not sure which aspect of physical therapy you want to study.

1. Click on Browse Subjects at the top of the screen (see picture below)

2. Type physical therapy into the search box.

Click GO. You should get a page that looks like this:

3. You can see that there are thousands of articles on the topic of Physical Therapy. To break that group down into smaller categories, click on the small plus sign to the left of Physical Therapy (see above). You should see a list that looks like this:

4. Choose Analysis. You will see a list of articles similar to this:

Whenever you see the words “Full-text” or “Full-text with graphics” (see above), this means that the complete article is available in the database.  Just click on the article title or the words “Full-text” to read it. See box below for what to do when full-text is not available.

To print, email, or save articles, or to get assistance with creating a citation for an article, go to the Tools box on the right.

Database to try:

CINAHL

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries site, click on Articles (middle of the page).
   
   
2. Scroll down to Health & Medicine and click on Allied Health & Nursing . You will see a list of databases that are useful for finding articles on Nursing and Allied Health.
   
   
3. Select the database called CINAHL.

Do a search!

Let's say you're interested in finding information on how physical therapy can increase patients' flexibility.

1. Type flexibility AND physical therapy in the search box.

2. Scroll down to limit your search to Peer Reviewed journals.

3. Click on Search. You should get a list of articles similar to this one:

If it says PDF Full Text or HTML Full Text under that citation for the article, the full-text of the article is available in CINAHL. If full-text is not available, use the previous instructions for finding full-text articles in a different database.

____________________________________________________________________________

Class Assignment: Locate one of the articles in the reference list at the end of your assigned textbook chapter and provide step by step instructions on how you did it.

So you've just learned how to locate articles on a topic you're interested in. But what if you have a citation and you need to track down the full text of that article?

1) Go back to the box titled, "How do I find the Full-Text of an article?"

2) Follow the instructions for option #2.

3) Remember, full-text will not necessarily be available for every journal article cited in your book. It may take multiple tries to find a full-text article.

• There are lots of good web sites out there, but also lots of junk.
  
• Make sure you're using a quality site (who created it? Why? How old is it? Can the source be trusted?)
  
• Use Best of the Web to help find quality sites:

How to get there:

1. From the NOVA Libraries webpage, click on Research Tools (on left-hand menu)
   
2. Choose Best of the Web.
   
3. Choose Nursing and Allied Health.

The categories of Physical Therapy, Core Resources, and Complementary/Alternatice Medicine all have relevant links:

Best of the Web also has some great resources for citing sources and avoiding plagiarism

1. From the NOVA Libraries webpage, click on Research Tools (on left-hand menu)
   
2. Choose Best of the Web.
   
3. Choose Citing Sources.
   
   
   • There are many good web sites listed here to help you format your paper and cite your sources properly.
   • Please be sure to look at Citing References in Your Paper, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center:

     

     The section on quoting and paraphrasing sources (http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QuotingSources.html) contains very helpful information on avoiding plagiarism.