Researching Media & Madness

Searching Strategies

Brainstorm for keywords;
Use AND to narrow your search: film AND mental illness AND portrayal;

Remember lists the ways to access an article you need: fulltext online, in print or through ILLiad, our free interlibrary loan service.

Definitions & Background Information

Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology & Behavioral Science
Call number BF31.E52 2001 (4 volume set)

    CREDO Reference
        Full-text reference collection of over 280 titles

    Encyclopaedia Britannica

   Oxford Dictionary of Psychology
       Call number BF31.C65 2001

     Statistical Abstract of the United States
        Ames Library Reference, HA202.A2

    Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
       Call number Z695.1.P7 T48 2001

     National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
             "NAMI is a nonprofit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families, and friends of people with severe mental illnesses..."

    National Center for Health Statistics
        Provides US public health statistics including diseases, pregnancies, births, aging, and mortality....

Locating Books

    Use the Ames Catalog to locate books in Ames Library (guide to call numbers)
    Tips:
        Search by keyword or author
        Use the Guided Keyword Search to combine search terms using 'and'
      Remember you can request books from other universities using ILLiad
    For more help, see the I-Share Tutorials online.
    For a list of book call numbers and their locations in Ames, see Collections Locations

Locating Articles (and more) in Databases

General Starting Points

    Academic Search Premier
        Available online
        Multi-disciplinary full text database of over 4500 journals; indexes over 8000 more

    Lexis-Nexis
        Available o nline
        Click News link to access newspaper articles, news transcripts and medical news.
        Remember to click on "add index terms" and use "select sources" to help narrow results.

    Wilson SelectPlus
       Available online
       Coverage of many subjects, provides full text access to most articles

Health

    Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition
         Available online: 1984 - present.
       Provides full text for nearly 270 health periodicals.

    MEDLINE
       Available online: 1965 - present
       Available in print: Index Medicus, 1970 to 1990, 4th floor, Z6660.I42
       Covers nursing, dentistry, education, experimental medicine, nutrition, pathology, toxicology and more. Heavy use of medical jargon.

History

    America: History & Life
       Available online: 1964 - present
       Available in print: 1964 to 1997, 4th floor, Z1236.A48
       Covers United States & Canadian history

    Historical Abstracts
       Available online: 1972 - present
       Available in print: 1955 to 1980 in Reference
       Covers history of countries other than the United States & Canada

Literature

    MLA International Bibliography
        Available online: 1964 - present
        Covers articles and essays on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore.

Psychology

    PsycINFO
        Available online: 1872 - present
        Covers articles, conference proceedings, dissertations and chapters in books for psychology and related disciplines.

    PsycArticles
        Available online
        Full Text access to over 28,000 articles from 49 peer reviewed journals. Use the PsycInfo database for more complete coverage.

Sociology

    Sociological Abstracts
        Available online: 1952 - present
        Abstracts and indexes over 1800 journals in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.

Research Help

    Visit or Call the Reference Desk
    Visit, call or email Meg

This site was created at The Ames Library for "Media & Madness,"
a Gateway Colloquium at Illinois Wesleyan University
by Stephanie Davis-Kahl on February 13, 2004
and updated by Meg Miner February 21, 2008