Finding Resources: Books
What can I use to do research if I don't use Google?
Don't overlook books in either print or electronic format. Books can be useful in health care research, particularly when you're just beginning your career or when you're just beginning research on a topic.
Textbooks give you an introduction, background, and basic information on a topic. They generally present either summaries of a wide range of health topics or coverage of every aspect of a particular medical topic. Textbooks provide good background information and offer an excellent starting point for more in-depth research. If you need to review the pathophysiology of kidney disease, check on a biochemical process, or look up general information on adolescent health, your best starting point will be a basic textbook.
Textbooks would be a great place to start if you need to know:
- Background/overview information
- Information on disease etiology and pathogenesis
- Information that isn't rapidly changing
Examples include:
- Overview of sexually-transmitted diseases
- Basics of study design
- History of health insurance in the United States
Monographs are also known as regular old books. These are books on a specific topic, and are different from textbooks. Monographs are good for focused, in-depth information.
Finding books
Electronic textbooks
Himmelfarb offers approximately 150+ core textbooks electronically. These can be accessed from on or off-campus through our our e-texts page.
See the off-campus access instructions for information about logging in from off-campus.
Print books
Print books can be found in the Library's catalog, which is discussed in the next section.