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Intramural Debate, Spring 2009: Library & Internet Resources
Topic: Universal Health Care
Resolved: The United States federal government should establish a universal health care system in the United States
Note: Highly recommended sources are listed with
this image 
.
Background Information | Finding Articles | Finding Books
Background
Information
- Summary of the Resolution listed as "problem area II": Five Debate Topics Suggested for 2009-10 Ballot
- Full Proposal: A Proposal for a Debate Resolution on National Health Insurance (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file.)
- Gale Virtual Reference Library (encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources. For example, see National Health Insurance entry from the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2008. (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file.)
- Government Information: Federal, State, Local, International (suggests the best sites to find information from federal, state, international, and local levels of government)
- Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation - Health Policy, Media Resources, Public Health Education (good source of reports and public opinion polls on health care reform and related information)
Finding Articles
- Articles are excellent sources of focused research, pro and con arguments found in editorials and essays, and the latest news on a topic.
- Search the following periodical databases for articles in journals, magazines, or newspapers.
- For a complete list of available databases, see Databases A-Z.
- FYI, you can also connect to the Library's databases and full-text periodicals from off campus
- Databases listed below that include this image
allow you to limit search results to scholarly journal articles. - Enter "universal health care" (or more specific terms) as
keyword(s) in the database search engine. To combine keywords to focus
the search, use the Boolean
operator and in between keywords or enter keywords
in the separate boxes provided by the search engine. Use the Boolean
operator or in between words to broaden the search
and enclose in parentheses. Use truncation (the asterisk *)
at the root of a word to search variant endings, e.g., econom*
will retrieve economy, economic, economical,
etc. Sample search strategies:
- national health care and econom*
- health care reform and politic*
- national health care or single payer system
- single payer system and (employ* or worker*)
- If the full text for the article is not included in the results list
in one of the following databases, a link to the Find Text
service will appear along with the article citation, which may retrieve
the full text of the article in another library database, provide location
information for the hard copy (bound) version in the Library, or provide
the option of obtaining a copy through the Interlibrary
Loan service.
- Academic
Search Elite (EBSCOHost)
- Access a variety of scholarly journals, magazines, and selected newspapers in all subject areas. Good general periodicals database with lots of full text.
- CQ
Researcher
- CQ Researcher full-text reports offer in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy. Each 12,000-word report is a unique work, investigated and written by a seasoned journalist, including sections on background and chronology; an assessment of the current situation; tables and maps; pro/con statements from representatives of opposing positions; and bibliographies of key sources. Note: Since the reports are written by journalists, it is not considered a scholarly journal. Coverage is from 1991 to the present.
- CQ Weekly
- Online weekly magazine provides in-depth reports on issues before the U.S. Congress, plus a complete summary of the previous week's news, including the status of bills in play, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, committee and floor activity, debates and all roll-call votes. Good source of current events and social issues. Coverage is from 1983 to present.
- Gale
Power Search
- A good place to start, Power Search provides simultaneous access to 11 Thomson Gale databases to locate magazine articles, academic journal articles, news, reference books, Web sites, and multimedia resources. Under the Books results tab, includes viewpoint essays (opinion pieces) from both sides of controversial issues from the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.
- Health
Reference Center (Gale)
- Indexes over 900 health and allied health journals with full text articles in 686 journals, 1980-
- LexisNexis
Academic
- LexisNexis Academic is a full-text database containing news, legal, biographical, and business information from over 12,000 publications. Click on Easy Search (default) or Power Search from the General toolbar, or News from the toolbar to search newspapers and other sources. Easy Search does not use Boolean (AND, OR, NOT) operators and searches large groups of the most popular sources. The Power Search or News options allow Boolean logic, searching within specific parts of a document (headline, byline, lead paragraph, etc.), and the ability to search more specific sources. In addition to sources such as "Major U.S. and World Publications," "Major World Publications (non-English)," "blogs," "TV and radio broadcast transcripts" (news broadcasts, political campaigns), and legal or business information in Easy Search, the Power Search or News options include "U.S. Newspapers and Wires," "magazine stories,'" and topical news sources (business, legal, university, and healthcare) among others. For tips on searching for editorials in LexisNexis Academic, see News Search: Find An Editorial Or Opinion Piece. Click Legal to search law reviews, federal and state laws and court cases; click Business to search company information and other related sources; and click People for biographical information. Dates of coverage in LexisNexis vary by publication. NOTE: Due to publisher restrictions, Lexis Nexis Academic users may only access the latest 6 months of the Los Angeles Times. Use Proquest Newspapers for complete coverage of the Los Angeles Times online.
- ProQuest Newspapers
- Full text for 500+ U.S. and international news sources. Includes coverage of 150+ major U.S. newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune, plus hundreds of other news sources and news wires, most dated from the mid-1980s and 1990s to the present. Click the More Search Options link from the main search screen to reveal choices for limiting by Document Type, such as editorial, which is an excellent source for a variety of viewpoints.
- Wilson
OmniFile Full Text Mega
- Cross searching of Art Full Text, Business Full Text, Education Full Text, General Science Full Text, Humanities Full Text, Library Literature & Information Science Full Text, Readers' Guide Retrospective, Readers' Guide Full Text, and Social Sciences Full Text; plus Applied Science & Technology Full Text, Biological & Agricultural Index Plus, Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text.
Books
- Books, media, and government documents may be searched in the Library Catalog by author, title, Library of Congress Subject Heading, or keywords.
- Subject headings such as Medical Policy United States, Health Care Reform United States, Health Insurance United States, Medical Economics United States are useful. Sort by date for the most recent materials. For comparative information about other countries, leave out "United States."
- Keyword searching allows the use of Boolean Logic (AND, OR, NOT) and truncation/wildcards symbols (*, ?, etc.), for example: health care and uninsured.
- For books not held by the Oviatt Library, request an Interlibrary Loan, but allow about 2 weeks.
Prepared by Kathy Dabbour, Communication Studies Librarian
18111 Nordhoff St. Northridge CA 91330 (818) 677-2285 |
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