Health
Source: Consumer Edition
What is Health Source: Consumer Edition?
An EBSCO database, Health Source: Consumer Edition covers topics such as
AIDS, cancer, diabetes, drugs & alcohol, aging, fitness, nutrition & dietetics, children's
health, and women's health. Its sources include consumer health magazines like Muscle & Fitness, books, pamphlets, reports, and
dictionaries. Clinical Reference Systems reports are available in both English and Spanish.
I'm Not a Medical Professional, Will I Be Able to Understand the Material?
Generally, yes. This database was designed to be accessible to the consumer. Let's
try an example: a search for articles with the phrase "older adults" in the title.
I clicked on one of the articles I found with my search, and brought up this screen. At the top is the title of the article, "Exercise for Older Adults." Below is the source, or the journal in which the article was published, called CRS-Senior Health Advisor. This section also tells me when the article was published and its page numbers. The Document Type tells me this is a reference entry, like an encyclopedia article. Finally, there are keywords describing the subject matter of the article and a brief abstract. If I were to scroll down further, I would see the text of the article and a list of the article contents on the left.
There are also other features to help you understand what you find. Try the blue tabs across the top:
- Subjects will give you alternative words for the thing you're looking for: "older
people" as well as "older adults"
- You can browse all of the thousands of publications by alphabetic order,
subject & description, and by matching key words
- Medical Dictionary will give you definitions of particular medical terms and drugs:
- By clicking on "More" and "Indexes", you can use the Indexes to browse sources from a number of categories:
- You can also search for images by clicking on "More" and "Images":
How Do I Find What I Need?
How to Search: Basic
There are several ways to search this database. Let's start with Basic and do some
exploring. This will be the first screen that comes up. Treat the blank box that says
"Find" like a blank Google box and enter a keyword. Let's try "older adults" in just a minute.
Limiters
To see the limiters, click on "Search Options" below the empty box. The second section underneath the box is all about limiters. Limiters help you
focus your search. You can choose whether or not you want full text (the full article
instead of a citation, which only tells you where to find the full article); whether or not
you want peer-reviewed journals (these are journals whose articles are checked by
other experts before they are published); and the dates for your search. Unless you're an
historian, you don't want old medical information! Now type in "older adults" and click "Search."
Once you've entered a search, a list of source types, subjects, and publications comes up in the left column. These could help you focus your search too.
Limiters are also available on the right side of your search results. You can limit your results to full text, scholarly journals, image quick view if you are searching for images, and select the date range you want for your results.
Expanders
Expanders are the options located in the "Search Options" box directly under the search box on the basic search page. Expanders will let you
broaden your search if you don't get enough results. You could try searching for related
words by checking "Apply related words," or see if the words you're looking for are in the text instead of the title by checking "Also search within the full text of the articles."
How to Search: Advanced
This is very much like Basic Search but with more categories. You can use the "Select a Field" boxes to the right of the search box to search for an Author, or for a word in the Title of the Article, or for Subject Terms, or Geographic Terms, and more.
How to Search: Visual
Visual search, if it is available through your library, is a fabulous new way of finding what you need. Go back to our example. Click on the visual search tab at the top of the screen. Enter "older people" in the keyword blank. After a few seconds, a column of boxes with different subject terms like "OLDER people-Diseases" and "OLDER people-Care" will appear. Click on the boxes to narrow your results. The green boxes show the articles that fit into that category. The green box on the right shows the article that fits into all of the categories you clicked on.
How Can I Keep Track of What I Find?
Temporary Folders
On the Search Results page - the one that gives you the list of articles by title - under each of the search results there is a folder icon and an "Add to Folder" link. Click on the link under the title you like and the article will be added to your own folder. When you do that, the folder icon in the blue bar on the top-right corner of the page will show a piece of paper sticking out of it. You can also add the article to your folder by clicking on the picture of the yellow folder when you are looking at the full view of the article.
If you click on the folder when it has something in it, it will show the articles inside. On
the left you will be able to see the kinds of things you can save in this folder: articles,
images, videos, persistent links to searches, and saved searches.
Permanent Folders
If you want the items in your folder to be saved from one session to another (even when
the computer is turned on and off or if you leave the library one week and come back
the next), there is a link at the top of the folder that says "Sign in to my EBSCOhost." If
you click on this link, it will take you to a page that will allow you to set up a personal
account with EBSCO with your own user name and password.
How Can I Share What I Find?
Sending, Printing, and Saving Information
When you click on the title of an article, you will see icons that allow you to send, print, and save that article.
- Email. Click on the picture of the envelope with the blue arrow pointing to it to email the article information or full text (if available) to yourself or a friend.
- Print. Click on the picture of the printer. The computer will estimate the number of pages before it prints. You can choose whether you want to print the entire article (if available) or just the citation.
- Save. Click on the picture of the orange disk. Save will give you full instructions on how to save your document in a variety of
formats. Like print, you can save the full article (if available) or just the citation.
- Cite. Clicking on the yellow paper shows how to cite the article in a research paper. The citation is available in different formats, such as APA and MLA. It is a good idea to check to make sure the citation format is correct using a style guide.
- Export. Click on the white paper with the green arrow on it. Export will let you export the article information into a bibliographic management tool like EndNote.
This page was created by Lisa Charbonnet in Spring 2007.
This page was revised by Iantha Haight in Spring 2009.
INF 382S: Library Instruction and Information Literacy, taught by Dr. Loriene Roy
School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin
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