The goals of this guide are to:
- Provide essential information for new and current MPH students.
- Teach and show MPH students how to access essential resources through the Calder Library.
This guide is intended for MPH students at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. It has information about both on-campus and online resources available to MPH students.
You may navigate this guide by using the links on the Table of Contents at the left or by using the Tabs on top of each page.
Department of Learning, Research, and Clinical Information Services
- Email: reference@miami.edu
- Phone: 305-243-6648
- Ask a Librarian: https://www.library.miami.edu/calder/ask-a-librarian.html
You can browse books and journals from the library homepage by clicking on the tabs in the Start Your Research section of the page. You can also search for library resources using the uSearch box at the top right of the homepage.
For more information on how to conduct searches using uSearch look at our online uSearch Guide.
To limit your search results, you can search by Everything, Electronic Resources, or Library Catalog by clicking on the drop-down menu on the uSearch box.
On the results page, you will find the list of results matching your search. On the left-hand side, you can further limit your search results by date, language, subject, etc.
To search for Books, type the title or topic in the search box. You can also browse titles by alphabetical order or subject.
Find journals from the Journals link on the website. Once on the Journal Search page, you can type the journal title in the search box, or find them by alphabetical order. When you find the journal you need, click on the Online Access link to see full text PDFs of journal articles by publisher.
For more information on how to conduct searches using uSearch look at our online uSearch Guide.
To limit your search results, you can search by Everything, Electronic Resources, or Library Catalog by clicking on the drop-down menu on the uSearch box.
On the results page, you will find the list of results matching your search. On the left-hand side, you can further limit your search results by date, language, subject, etc.
To search for Books, type the title or topic in the search box. You can also browse titles by alphabetical order or subject.
Find journals from the Journals link on the website. Once on the Journal Search page, you can type the journal title in the search box, or find them by alphabetical order. When you find the journal you need, click on the Online Access link to see full text PDFs of journal articles by publisher.
A library database is an organized collection of materials from journals and other publications that you can search using a computer or device. Below are the main databases that can be used to search for resources on different topics in Public Health.
Some of these databases cover a range of subjects, such as PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Other databases are subject-specific, such as CINAHL (nursing and allied health) and PsycINFO (psychology).
Some of these databases cover a range of subjects, such as PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Other databases are subject-specific, such as CINAHL (nursing and allied health) and PsycINFO (psychology).
CINAHL
CINAHL is a research tool for nursing and allied health professionals.
To know more on how to search CINAHL, watch the following videos.
Ovid/Medline is MEDLINE on the Ovid platform and offers access to the latest bibliographic citations and author abstracts from biomedicine and life sciences journals in over 40 languages.
PsycINFO
The APA's database of more than 1 million citations to the psychology literature, published since 1967. Access available within UM I.P. domain.
PubMed
Access to MEDLINE and Pre-MEDLINE, sets of related articles for each cited article, DNA/protein sequences and 3-D structure data, and links to publisher sites.
- For a basic introduction to PubMed, see this Module by the National Library of Medicine.
Scopus
The largest database of scientific, technical, medical and social science literature back to 1966, including cited references.
Web of Science
Access to Web of Science, 1945 to the present, Conference Proceedings, MEDLINE, ISI Journal Citation Reports, Essential Science Indicators, and Zoological Record, 1978 to the present by all UM users.
Below is information on how to create strategies to search health sciences databases using keywords, Boolean operators, quotation marks, truncation, and subject headings.
Keywords are automatically included with citations in a database. They are provided by authors immediately upon article submission, help you find the latest literature, and can be matched to all parts of a citation, such as the article title and abstract. However, you must know the keywords the authors used to match them in your search strategy.
Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT) are used to combine your search terms.
Phrase searching (with " ") encloses a fixed series of words within quotation marks to search for those words together and in that order.
Truncation is the use of an asterisk (*) to search for different word endings.
Subject headings, also known as index terms or controlled vocabulary, are tags assigned to citations in a database by experts manually. They standardize search terms, improve discoverability, capture spelling variations and acronyms, and are unique to databases. However, they take time to be assigned and are not available for all topics.
Subject headings have different names depending on the database. You can think of "subject heading" as the generic name and the database's name for its own subject headings as the brand name.
In the databases we will be using, subject headings are referred to as:
Keywords are automatically included with citations in a database. They are provided by authors immediately upon article submission, help you find the latest literature, and can be matched to all parts of a citation, such as the article title and abstract. However, you must know the keywords the authors used to match them in your search strategy.
Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT) are used to combine your search terms.
- AND: Use between different terms. Combining search terms with AND will make the search more targeted.
- OR: Use between similar terms. Combining search terms with OR will expand the search.
- NOT: Use NOT to exclude a term in a search strategy.
Phrase searching (with " ") encloses a fixed series of words within quotation marks to search for those words together and in that order.
Truncation is the use of an asterisk (*) to search for different word endings.
Subject headings, also known as index terms or controlled vocabulary, are tags assigned to citations in a database by experts manually. They standardize search terms, improve discoverability, capture spelling variations and acronyms, and are unique to databases. However, they take time to be assigned and are not available for all topics.
Subject headings have different names depending on the database. You can think of "subject heading" as the generic name and the database's name for its own subject headings as the brand name.
In the databases we will be using, subject headings are referred to as:
- CINAHL: CINAHL (Subject) Headings
- PubMed: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Term
| Using CINAHL/MeSH Headings Features in EBSCOhost | Using Medical Subject Holdings in PubMed |
More About Searching in PubMed Topic Searching in PubMed: Using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Training Course |
Browse through Calder Library- Public Health Databases
Database List By Subject: | Louis Calder Memorial Library (miami.edu)
Browse through Calder Library
Database List By Subject: | Louis Calder Memorial Library (miami.edu)
Browse through Calder Library
What is Plagiarism?
- To steal and pass off the ideas, words or creation of someone else as your own.
- To use someone's work or creation without crediting the source.
Source: Merriam Webster Dictionary
Why is Avoiding Plagiarism Important?
Giving credit where it is due
- Sharing and using ideas is part of the academic process, but it is important to clearly distinguish between your own ideas & other people's ideas.
Maintaining academic integrity
- Using other people's work without permission or acknowledgement is considered cheating.
- For academic writing to be credible, you must be honest about the direct and indirect inspirations for your thoughts and ideas.
Providing evidence for your ideas
- Properly using other people's work to back up your own thoughts & ideas provides evidence for your research and allows others to build on your work.
A citation manager is a software tool that helps you organize and manage your research sources, including journal articles, books, and other references. Citation managers can help you:
- Collect: Import files and organize them into a personal library
- Organize: Create an organization system, attach PDFs, and add notes to references
- Cite: Create citations from your library as you write, and insert them directly into your documents
- Share: Collaborate with others on manuscript writing, and share your resources with others
