Community & Health Sciences: Research Resource Guide

The Library subscribes to various databases that are linked via uKwazi (Library Search Engine) to find relevant and current information in different types of sources, for example, journal articles, books (print and e-version), newspaper articles, theses and dissertations.

You can also search for literature on your topic by either clicking on:

• Databases at the top of the Library web page and Select A-Z Databases to access a number of subscribed databases, OR
• Databases by Discipline and select Health Sciences to access a list of databases that covers your subject. You will have the option to select which database you want to search depending on your research topic.

The following databases are relevant for health disciplines EBSCOhost, PubMed, Sabinet, SAGE Journals Online and Science Direct. 

The next demonstration video will show you how to access the following e-Resources: uKwazi (the library catalogue); Databases via the A-Z Databases listing or the Databases by Discipline listing; and Subject Guides. If you have an idea on how to access these then please skip to the next video tutorial.

The following video tutorial (2m:57s) will show you how to authenticate yourself as a registered UWC student member in order to access the library's resources from off-campus. Please skip this video if you are already familiar with the UWC authentication process on EZproxy.

The following short video tutorial (2m:19s) will demonstrate to you on how to conduct a search on uKwazi, the UWC library's catalogue to discover resources for your study and research needs. 

The following video tutorial (4m32s) will provide a demonstration on how to conduct a search on EBSCOhost, a multi-disciplinary database that allows you to access more than two dozen different databases which provide full text access to articles from scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers. 

The next two tutorials will show you how to find, download and save a journal article as well as an eBooks.

In the video tutorial (3m:36s) that follows you will learn the process of actually accessing the full text of your chosen journal articles.

As you know, eBooks are well indexed by uKwazi and you can filter to these already. In order to access e-Books: Select View Online and you'll be offered a database through which the eBook is available.

In the best case scenario you will be able to download and keep an e-Book on your device for reading offline.

In other cases, you will be taken to the e-Book on a database site and be shown the table of contents. There may be limitations on the number of pages that you can download at a time. You will be able to read as much as you like while online but will not be able to save/print/email many pages. This is particularly the case for textbook materials where publisher places restrictions on how many students can read a book online at the same time. 

The demonstration in the next video tutorial (2m:54s) will show you how to find, download and save e-Books.

Searches can often produce large numbers of results. This may be an appropriate number for a systematic literature review, where you need to ensure your search is very comprehensive. However, if your search retrieves several irrelevant results, various techniques can be used to make your search more effective.

The following short video tutorial (1m:49s) will show you how to "review and refine your search results". This will offer you a few ways of amending the search to improve the results, or to find further relevant search items.

What is SAGE Research Methods (SRM) and how it can assist you with your research?

• SRM is an online collection of books and other full-text materials that provide information on how to perform research methods across disciplines.
• You can search SRM to find information on how to design and conduct a research project, finding information on research methods and doing a literature review.
• The content on the SRM database includes dictionaries and encyclopedia entries, book chapters, full books, journal articles, the complete case studies of real research, and streaming videos showing research in action.

To access the SRM online database, please access it via the library's A-Z Database list. 

You may view more short video tutorials and step-by-step guides at the following link: Sage Research Methods Online Library.

For an overview on how to navigate and use the SRM resources, watch the following short video tutorial (2m:07s) that will give you a quick tour of the online database.