HCSA 202
Finding Medical-Legal Journal Articles
Avoid plagiarism by properly citing your sources. Please go to the Citations webpage to learn how.
Help Finding Topics
- Merck Manual Medicolegal Issues: Look at the Topics listed above the Introduction, and be sure to read the overview, as the Merck Manual is an excellent source of information
- Briefcase on Medical Law 2/e Table of Contents: You may find a topic of interest from here
- American Medical Association (AMA) Hot Topics
- AMA Regulatory and Compliance Topics
- AMA Patient-Physician Legal Topics (scroll to the bottom of the screen to see the list)
Finding Library Materials
The snapshot of the Library Homepage below highlights the Find menu which is a good starting point to find various library resources, such as books, articles, journals, subject guides, etc.
Find Articles
To find medical-legal information and other medical research articles, look in FLITE databases. If you are doing research from off-campus, you will need to log-on using your MyFSU username and password. Click here for more information on off-campus database access.
Remember, in general, it is a good idea to start off by getting background information from reference books, such as encyclopedias. Some places you may want to look are:
- Stat!Ref, the Electronic Medical Library that searches the contents of many medical reference books and is a great place to start searching for MOST health sciences topics (maybe not legal issues though).
- Online Encyclopedias that includes Health and Medical Encyclopedias
- The Encyclopedia of Health Care Management, an online encyclopedia of particular interest to HCSA.
General OneFile (Simply e-mail yourself citations in APA format, but be sure to double check them)
This is a general database that will be useful for finding information on about any topic you can come up with! Start off using the Find Subject search box, and if you don't find your subject, use the search box at the top of the screen to search by keyword. Also use the Basic Search or Advanced Search if combining search terms. In the Advanced Search you can limit your articles to particular journals, full-text, peer-reviewed, etc. If the full text of the article is not available in the database, click on the Find It link to determine how the article is available. For an example, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles link below.
Also try Academic Onefile.
CINAHL (Simply e-mail yourself citations in APA format, but be sure to double check them)
The Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) currently gathers information from more than 1800 journals. Use the CINAHL Headings tab 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 Update Results link to the right of the results to add multiple limits such as peer-reviewed or publication date limits, and click on the recommended subjects to the left of your results to narrow your topic by subject. If the full text of the article is not available in the database, click on the Find It link to determine how the article is available. For an example, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles link below.
PubMed (E-mail yourself citations using the Send To link. They will come in NLM style, and you'll need to reformat them to APA style)
This is the largest biomedical database, with over 19 million citations. Try to use specific keywords rather than broad keywords to obtain information pertinent to your topic. If retrieving an overwhelming number of articles, use various options to limit your search that were discussed in class. These options for limiting your search include:
- Select the related articles link when you find an article that is on topic
- Click on the Review link to only see review articles
- Select the Limits link and for Type of Article select Legal Cases and select Legislation
- Select the Limits link and under Search Field Tags change the menu from All Fields to Title so that your search terms are only being searched in the title
In order to link out to the full text of articles through PubMed: 1) click into the full record 2) click on the Find It link to try to access the full text. For an example, see the Obtaining the Full-Text of Articles link below.
Click here for a PubMed Tutorial.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe (E-mail yourself citations, and then reformat them in APA style)
Using this database, you may wish to switch from the General search tab to the Legal search tab. Information in this database is available full-text online.
Westlaw Campus (E-mail yourself citations, and then reformat them in APA style)
After agreeing to the terms of use, switch from the News & Business search tab to the Law search tab. You will have to select what resources you want to search. Focus your search in Journals and Law Reviews to find articles for your paper.
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.
Sample Article 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.
More Recommended Sites to Find Legal Information
- Michigan eLibrary (MeL) Legal Gateway: Many useful resources for finding MI laws, as well as other state and Federal laws.
- Michigan Legislature allows you to search for bills and laws by keyword
- Explore Government Documents allows you to search by topic, and link out to the Full Resource online
Other Useful Links
To find books, journals, videos, and other library materials, there are several resources to use. Beginning at the library's homepage, you will find links for locating all types of library materials.
Using the Find Menu from the top of the library's page, you can find:
- APA Citation Style Guide: This is a quick 2-page reference sheet. An outside resource is Northern Michigan University's APA Style Guide: This is an excellent guide. For examples oriented towards allied health resources, including how to cite books from Stat!Ref, click here.
- Books: Using the online catalog, beyond books, you can also find videos, government documents, course reserves, etc. The online catalog is set-up so you can perform keyword searches, subject searches, title searches, etc.
- Articles. Using the library's databases, you can select Health and Medical Resources if you are specifically searching a health-related topic, or select other subject areas as necessary.
- Journals: Many journals are available online, but may also be in print or in microform. You can search by the full journal title, title words, or by subject.
- Online Encyclopedias, Handbooks, and other Reference Books: Search these reference books individually, or cross search a group of books using Facts on File, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Sage eReference Encyclopedias, or using our friend Stat!Ref.
Need Help? 
Don't forget that you can use Chat (instant message), Email Ali, come to the Oval Information Desk and ask for help any time, or give the Oval Information Desk a call at (231) 591-3602.
Any more questions? Contact: Alison (Ali) Konieczny / Email / Phone: 231-591-3696 / Office: FLITE 315
Last update: June 8, 2010