SOCY 373 - Ngoh
Medical Sociology Research
Starting your Research
To effectively research your topic, it is essential to use the appropriate resources. To find articles, you will want to use databases. There are many great subject databases, as well as general & multidisciplinary databases available through the library. If you are doing research from off-campus, you will need to log-on to use databases and other online resources licensed by FSU. You can use your MyFSU username and password to log-on to the databases. Click here for more information on off-campus database access.
You may also be interested in searching subject encyclopedias. There are many subject encyclopedias in the library's Online Reference Resources collection. Of particular interest may be The Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology.
Several Recommended FLITE Databases for Medical Sociology Articles
PubMed
This is the largest biomedical database, with over 19 million citations. You can use the MeSH Database feature from the PubMed sidebar to find Medical Subject Headings that correlate with many terms related to medical sociology. Click here for more information on searching with the MeSH Database. Some useful MeSH terms that you may want to add to your search include:
- "Sociology, Medical"[Mesh]
- "Attitude of Health Personnel"[Mesh]
- "Attitude to Health"[Mesh]
- "Physician-Patient Relations"[Mesh]
- "Quality of Health Care"[Mesh]
- "Social Perception"[Mesh]
- "Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice"[Mesh]
- "Social Conditions"[Mesh]
- "Social Environment"[Mesh]
- "Socioeconomic Factors"[Mesh]
- "Social Class"[Mesh]
- "Patient Acceptance of Health Care"[Mesh]
These terms can be added to your search using the Boolean operator AND, for example:
"Sociology, Medical"[Mesh] AND obesity (note, the quotes are part of the search phrase)
For general information retrieval in PubMed, you can search using keywords. Keywords will often yield too many results, so you may need to limit your search by using the limits tab, related articles link, or selecting the Review tab to see only review articles. Other highly useful resources linked from PubMed include Single Citation Matcher and Consumer Health.
Click here for a PubMed Tutorial.
General OneFile
This is a general database that will be useful for searching about any topic you can come up with! You can do either a subject search or a keyword search. If having difficulties finding what you need, go to the Advanced Search.
If your subject is found, click on the + sign next to your topic, and it will show you subdivisions of your topic, including a subdivision for social aspects for some subjects.
Social Sciences Abstracts
This is a useful database for finding articles in social sciences fields, including sociology, anthropology, and political science. For searching on the social aspects of various medical conditions, consider using soci* as a keyword. By putting the asterisk following soci the database will search for variant forms of the word, including social, sociology, society.
PsycINFO and PsycArticles
As in Social Sciences Abstracts, you can consider using soci* as a keyword to find the variant endings, including social, sociology, society. When you find an article of interest, look at the descriptors and consider using the descriptors in your search to help improve your search results.
CINAHL
The Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) currently gathers information from more than 1800 journals. Use the CINAHL Headings subtab to get more subject-specific information on various topics. When you have found your subject heading, you may click on it to break your topic down by subdivision. Click on the refine search tab to add limits such as peer-reviewed or publication date limits. You can narrow and expand your search using the options available in this database.
Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles
In some databases you will see an option for a Text version of the document or a PDF version. In general, the PDF version is preferable as it is most often a scanned version of the original and will therefore contain the graphics. When e-mailing, printing, or saving a group of articles, be sure to select the full-text or PDF option if available.
Some databases contain little full-text, but allow you to link out to Ferris' holdings or the interlibrary loan request form. You will notice the Find it! links following individual citations that will indicate the availability of the article online, in the library, or the need to interlibrary loan the article. Click on the Go button and you will be taken to the online version, library holdings record, or interlibrary loan form to obtain the article you desire. See the example below:
Sample Journal Link-Out:
Evaluating your Articles
Before requesting articles from interlibrary loan, please review the abstract and make sure that the article is on-topic. Also, please insure that the article is in a language that you speak, as some databases, such as PubMed index many non-English articles that have abstracts written in English. After you have evaluated the topical coverage and language of the article, please do not hesitate to request it through interlibrary loan if it is not available on campus.
Other Useful Library Links
- Library Homepage
- Find Articles: Look for articles using FLITE's databases.
- Find Journals: Look for journals by doing title searches.
- Find Books and More: Look for books, videos, and other library holdings.
- APA Citation Style Guide: Learn basics about APA style, a prevalent citation format in the medical field.
Any more questions? Contact: Alison (Ali) Konieczny / Email / Phone: 231-591-3696 / Office: FLITE 315
Don't forget, you are welcome to come to the Oval Information Desk and ask for help any time. You can also call us 231-591-3602 or chat with us.
Last update: October 9, 2009