1. Researching the literature in public health Geography 2430A: Public Health & the Environment Presented by: Courtney Waugh, Subject Librarian for Geography, Weldon Library. September 2013

2. Today’s Session • Locate Course Help Guide • Develop a Search Strategy • Locate & Effectively Search Relevant Research Resources • Books, News Sources, Journal Articles, Policy Documents • Where to get more help

3. Your Assignment • Assignment #1 • Greatest Threat to Human Health in Developed Societies….Survey Says! • Climate Change & Health • Pandemic Preparedness • Poverty – Wealth Disparity & Health • Obesity - Sedentism • Air Quality & Health • Urbanization

4. Working with Broad Topics • Investigate 2-5 direct or indirect implications of a broad topic • Climate Change & Health • Climate Change & Vector Bourne Diseases • Climate Change & Air Quality • Climate Change & Water Quality • Climate Change & Food Poisoning

5. Refine Your Topic • Initial Topic • 1st Narrowing • 2nd Narrowing • 3rd Narrowing • 4th Narrowing • Environment & Health • Urban Environs & Health • Urban Housing & Health • Urban Housing & Infectious Disease • Urban Housing & Rat-Bite Fever Ask Who, What, Where, When, Why,?

6. Creating a search strategy • Think about your research topic. • What words or phrases will you search? • Break out the concepts • Make a list of 2 or 3 terms • for each concept. • Use the connectors AND & • OR to create a search strategy

7. Keywords and concepts Synonyms & Antonyms Health Health Outcomes Well Being Disease Urban* Urbanization Urbanisation “Urban development” Housing Hous* Public Housing Low cost housing

8. Search strings Which one/s is the most effective? 1. “Socioeconomic status” or health or Ontario 2. “Socioeconomic status” and health and Ontario 3. (“socioeconomic status” or “social status”) and (health or disease) and Ontario

9. Program & Course Guide

10. News Sources Research Topic: How prepared is Ontario for a global pandemic outbreak?

11. Local and World News • Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies • LexisNexis Academic • Ethnic News Watch • Alt Press Watch • ProQuest Historical Newspapers

12. Scholarly Sources • Essays/chapters published in edited books written by academics • Articles written in academic journals and/or peer reviewed publications • Based on original research • Author is an expert in the field • Contain generous footnotes & bibliographies • Illustrations limited to chart, graphs. B/W

13. Finding research materials What is the relationship between rapid urbanization and vector-borne diseases?

14. Getting Started: Summon

15. summon

16. Finding Articles • GEOBASE • SCOPUS • Canadian Public Policy Collection • PAIS • PubMed

17. Geobase • What is the relationship between • housing and health? • Air Quality • Mold • Sanitation • Crowding • Noise

18. SCOPUS What are the impacts of socio-economic status on health outcomes?

19. Canadian Public Policy Collection

20. CPP Results

21. Grey Literature • Health Canada • Public Health Agency of Canada • World Health Organization • Centers for Disease Control & Prevention • OECD

22. Evaluating sources: CRAAP test* • Currency: Is it up-to-date? • Relevance: [next slide] • Authority: Who wrote it? • Accuracy: Can you verify it? • Purpose: Why was it written? Bias?

23. Relevance • Where (i.e. in what journal) was it published? • (How) Does it relate to your topic? • Read book table of contents • Read article abstract/description • Skim the article

24. Reading a Scholarly Article Title and Abstract Introduction Methodology Results Discussion Conclusion In order to Read In order of Appearance • Title and Abstract • Conclusion • Introduction • Discussion • Methods • Results

25. Things to Remember • Course Guide & Program Page • Choose search engines according to your topic • Same strategies – different databases • How to read an article • Cite your sources • Where to get help

26. Where to get help