Research Guide for PAFF 541:
Health Policy I: Introduction to Health Policy
Technical Information about Library
Resources | Library Services |
Library Catalogs | Background Information
| Periodical Literature | Primary Sources
|
Health
Statistics and Demographics | Organizations, Research Centers,
Think Tanks |
Search Engines & Evaluating Internet Sources
Getting Help
Technical Information About Library Databases
If you are running any “pop-up killer” applications (software designed to stop pop-up ads on the Internet, they must be turned off for infoLINK and the Get it @ BU service to work properly. The browser must be set to accept “cookies”.
Off
Campus Access. Because of licensing agreements,
most of the subscription databases provided by the Libraries are restricted
to Binghamton University faculty, students, and staff.
If accessing from off campus, you will be asked to enter your PODS username and password once per session when you try to access a licensed product for
the first time, such as MetaLINK, an e-journal, or a subscription database.
For more help, see:
Get it @ BU FAQ
Technical
Help
Help,
A-Z
Library Services
ILLiad– Interlibrary Loan service. Login using your PODS username and password. The first time you use the service, you will be asked to fill out a form. Once this form is filled out, you are ready to use the service. When using the Get it @ BU service, much of the item information required is pre-populated into the form.
Library Services for Graduate Students for more information.
Library Catalogs
infoLINK – Binghamton University’s online catalog contains books, periodicals, journals, videos, government documents, and other materials purchased by the Libraries.
WorldCat is a union catalog of books and other materials from academic and large public library systems worldwide. Items not owned by Binghamton University can be requested online using ILLiad.
Other Libraries from the Libraries' Home Page - connect to other local, regional, state, and national academic and public libraries.
Background Information
BEFORE using the computer, develop your topic and begin some preliminary reading about it in order to understand the parameters, the controversies, and history. Using encyclopedias, dictionaries, both print and online is an effective and time saving first step in the process.
CQ Researcher
Contains reports on a variety of issues every two weeks that includes history and background information, pro and con arguments, outlooks on “hot topics,” chronology, and extensive bibliographies. A variety of health policy topics are covered each year.
Congressional Quarterly Almanac
Main Ref JK 1 .C66
Annual compilation. of articles from CQ Weekly. Excellent source for background analysis of legislative issues before Congress. Use it to track significant bills and resolutions and key votes.Encyclopedia of Bioethics
Main Ref QH 332 .E52 2004 and online through the Gale Virtual Reference Library
This is updated by the annual Bibliography of Bioethics (Main Ref QH 332 .B582) which can be searched using the PubMed database from the National Library of Medicine. Health care, public health, and health policy topics are well represented in the journals, news, court decisions, monographs, and book chapters that are indexed.
Encyclopedia of Health Care Management
Main Ref RA 971 .E52 2004
Defines over 600 business and management issues and terms related to the health care industry. Each article has a bibliography of print and Internet sources.
Health & Health Care in the United States, County and Metro Area Data
Main Ref RA 395 .A3 H43 2001
Health related statistics for each county and metropolitan area in the U. S.If you are looking for demographic or community health data, see the web page for Health Statistics and Demographics.
Periodical Literature (journals, news, public opinion)
Conduct a literature review of your discipline. At this stage, you need to:- determine the scope of the problem you wish to research
- identify what research has been done on the topic in the past, and
- refine your research question by looking at what has been done and what questions are open for research.
Annual
Reviews
Summarizes the current state of research on a subject by organizing, synthesizing,
and critically evaluating the relevant literature. Most articles provide an
exhaustive bibliography. The following subsets of the database cover health
policy topics.
Annual Review of Political Science
Annual Review of Public Health
Annual Review of Sociology
CQ
Weekly Online
Offers full coverage of the U.S. Congress: status of bills, votes and amendments,
floor and committee activity, and backroom maneuvering. Produced by the largest
news team on Capitol Hill. Search by keyword, topic, page number, committee,
bill number, byline, and date. Useful for accessing current news and analysis on Congress and
major public policy issues and for tracking votes and legislation in Congress,
locating recent Congressional documents and related material in full text, and
learning more about members of Congress
Article Databases and Indexes
Below is a listing of some article databases that you may find helpful for your research; the list is not met to be exhaustive, but rather serve as a starting point for your research. Be sure read the description of each database in metaLINK if you are not familiar with it before you begin searching.
All databases can be found in metaLINK by title. You can also look in the following categories for other applicable databases: Public Administration; Health and Physical Education; Sociology and Current News and Events.
- Academic Search Premiere - Covers both popular and peer-reviewed sources.
- Business Source Premiere - Covers many core public administration journals, but covers popular sources as well.
- Health Reference Center - Contains reference sources and peer-reviewed articles as well as less scholarly information.
- Medline - Limit your search with such keywords as "policy, " "planning" or "services."
- Sociological Abstracts - Covers sociology topics and behavioral sciences, with coverage of health policy.
- Science Direct - Contains a range of health-related information, very cross-disciplinary.
- Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe - covers current newspapers
When the full-text of the article is not available, the Get it @ BU service can help you determine if it is available elsewhere online or in the Libraries in paper. If it is not available, you can use the ILLiad link on the Get it @ BU to obtain it through InterLibrary Loan.
Primary Sources (Legislation, Regulations, & Other Government Documents)
Federal Regulations
B.U. Libraries site on how to find federal regulations.
GPO
Monthly Catalog (
1976- present)
Covers all types of U.S. government documents, including Congressional reports,
hearings, debates, and records; judiciary materials; and documents issued by
executive departments.
Congressional Budget Office
CBO provides Congress with analyses they need for economic and budget decisions.
Includes full-text online documents such as briefs, letter, reports, technical
reports. And testimony.
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
This is a non-partisan public policy research unit of the U.S. Congress that
produces thousands of public policy reports. Most are accessible only to members
of Congress, Congressional committees and other government agencies. You can
also acquire these reports by contacting your Congressional representative or
by purchasing them through another private party. Some public reports are available
at:
Open CRS - search engine
for CRS reports.
CRS @ UNT - digital repository for publicly available reports
Department of Health and Human Services
Department
of Health and Human Services - Office of Health Policy
Is responsible for major activities in the areas of policy coordination,
legislation development, strategic planning, policy research and evaluation,
and economic analysis.
Health and Medicine-
Science.gov
Collection of science research development and reports from the U. S. government.
Congressional Universe
Can search bills, laws, hearings, prints, reports, regulations by keyword
or by bill number, P.L. Number, or citation. Contains the
Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, Congressional Record, the
National Journal, and Congress Daily. Can search CIS Legislative Histories by
keyword..
Medicare.gov
Official U. S. government site for people with Medicare.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Policy Organizations, Research Centers, Think Tanks
Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Alliance for Health Reform
American Public Health Association
– Advocacy
Duke Health Policy Gateway
National Health Policy Forum
Created by Congress in 1971 to serve senior staff in the federal government,
it issues Background Papers, Issue Briefs, and Basics on a variety of health
policy topics.
National Reference
Center for Bioethics Literature (Georgetown University)
Links to databases for bioethics topics in health sciences, law, and social
sciences.
Politics of Health Care (University of Michigan)
Public Agenda Online – Health Care
Political Science Think Tanks (University of Michigan)
Search Engines
Google U.S. Government Search
Searches .gov and .mil sites from the U.S. government and state and local web
sites.
Findlaw
Law search engine. Use the section for Legal Professionals.
HealthWeb
Supported by the National Library of Medicine, this is a collaborative effort
of the National Network of the Libraries of Medicine and health sciences libraries
of the Greater Midwest Region.
Healthfinder.gov
Designed for consumers looking for health information, it searches for information on federal sites and approved organizations.
A,
B, C, Ds, of Evaluating Internet Resources
Remember that there is no quality control on the web and any information
you obtain may be suspect. Unreliable, inaccurate, biased, and sometimes totally
incorrect information is posted on seemingly authoritative web sites. You must
always check the validity of the information you find using the same criteria
you would use to evaluate scholarly and academic sources, print and electronic.
Getting Help
1. For immediate assistance, you can use the Help page to contact a librarian at the Reference Desk by phone, e-mail, IM or Meebo.
2. You can also contact Sarah Maximiek, Subject Librarian for Political Science, Public Administration and Government Documents (maximiek at binghamton dot edu) or IM (Bartlesarah on Yahoo or AIM).
Sarah generally works at the UDC Library Tuesdays 3:30-5:30 and 11:30-1:30 on Fridays.