I need to find information about an epidemic.
Epidemics: black plague, black death, bubonic plague, ebola, cholera, influenza, flu, AIDS, HIV, HINI, smallpox, typhus, measles, viral hemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, typhoid, malaria, dengue fever, typanosomiasis, SARS cronavirus, leishmaniasis, polio, hepatitis B, mumps, meningitis, hand foot and mouth disease
Answer
The first step will be for you to determine which epidemic you'd like to research.
Some possible epidemics to choose from: black plague, black death, bubonic plague, Ebola, cholera, influenza, flu, AIDS, HIV, H1N1, smallpox, typhus, measles, viral hemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, typhoid, malaria, dengue fever, typanosomiasis, SARS coronavirus, leishmaniasis, polio, hepatitis B, mumps, MERS, and meningitis.
Once you've picked an epidemic, sketch out an idea of the questions you'd like to answer about that epidemic. Be sure to check your assignment to determine what areas or questions you need to address in your paper.
Then, find reliable resources.
You could start by checking the eBooks and Academic Ebooks and Academic Ebooks or Ebook Central to see if there are any books on epidemics in general or a whole book on the epidemic you selected.
Also try the following library databases. I usually start with Nursing Reference Center and Consumer Health Complete.
- CINAHL Complete (great for research-based journal articles)
- Consumer Health Complete (written for those of us who are not medical professionals; includes fact sheets and pamphlets)
- Credo Reference (medical dictionaries and encyclopedias)
- Gale Ebooks (medical dictionaries and encyclopedias)
- Heath Science & Nursing via ProQuest (great for journal articles, newspapers, and other articles)
- MEDLINE with Full Text (contains journal articles)
- Nursing Reference Center Plus (journal articles, fact sheets, general info about conditions and diseases)
For websites, I recommend
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (look in the Diseases and Conditions area)
- Medline Plus from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Library of Medicine (In the Health Topics area, use the A-Z list to locate information on your selected epidemic)
- If you search the internet for resources, be sure to use only credible and reliable websites!
Search tip:
When searching, stick with keywords rather than full sentences. Start by searching simply for the name of the epidemic or disease.
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