In-Text Citations
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Use an in-text citation to credit the source of a statistic not considered common knowledge. Example: More than 9 percent of U.S. adults have diagnosed diabetes, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Include an in-text citation when reporting data from the literature. Include the month and year of publication and the journal title in quotation marks. Example: The authors of a research study report published in January 2015 in the "World Journal of Gastroenterology" found ...
Reference Requirements
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Topic View Medical assignments require at least 3 professional references.
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Use online sites intended for professionals and/or current medical texts.
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Do not use abstracts of articles as references; you must have access to the full article.
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Practice guidelines from professional and public health organizations are preferred for treatment, diagnosis and prevention articles.
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Systematic reviews and meta-analysis articles are preferred over individual research studies.
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Do not present preliminary research findings (that have not been verified or replicated) from a single study as medical facts.
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Randomized, controlled clinical trials are preferable to nonrandomized studies for discussing treatment or prevention efficacy. Results must be from phase III or later (unless such trials have not been conducted).
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If relying on observational studies as primary resources, evaluate potential biases in the study design to assess the applicability of the findings.
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Avoid presenting an observed association as causation, or relying on pilot or other small studies as primary resources.
- Do not generalize findings of a research study beyond the parameters of the study design.
Health Reference Search Tips
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Use medical terminology to avoid patient/consumer information sites.
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Search for “differential diagnosis pharyngitis,” not “causes of sore throat.”
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Use longer, more specific search strings to get more specificity in your results.
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Instead of “flu medication,” try “recommended antiviral influenza treatment.”
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Try site-specific searches if you know where you want to look.
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For example, search the CDC website by including site:cdc.gov before your search query “site:cdc.gov syphilis treatment guidelines.”
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Limit searches to specific types of organizations by including URL extensions.
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Search government sites by including site:.gov at the start of your search
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Search academic sites by including site:.edu
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Search nonprofits by including site:.org
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Specify what terms you don’t want included in your search by including a “-“ in front of your search.
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For example, search for vaccines not including influenza by searching for “vaccines -influenza.”
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Blacklisted Sources
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americanchronicle.com
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americanpregnancy.org
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active.com
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aolhealth.com
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caloriecount.about.com
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calorieking.com
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Dr.Weil.com
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Emedicine.com
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eMedicineHealth.com
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everydayhealth.com
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health.msn.com
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health.yahoo.net
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healthline.com
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Ihealthdirectory.com
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lifescript.com
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mayoclinic.com
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medicalnewstoday.com
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Medicinenet.com
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MedlinePlus
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Medscape.com
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menshealth.com
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mercola.com
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Nutritiondata.com
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prevention.com
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qualityhealth.com
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revolutionhealth.com
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runnersworld.com
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rxlist.com
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RxList.com
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self.com
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Sparkpeople.com
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thecaloriecounter.com
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TheHeart.org
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UpToDate.com
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webmd.com
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wellness.com
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whfoods.com
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womenshealthmag.com
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WrongDiagnosis.com
Advanced Google Resources.
Try using Google Scholar or Google Books for more authoritative Google searching.
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Filter search results by age and relevance.
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Used advanced search to search by author name, journal name or date if you know what you’re looking for.
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Note: Google Scholar includes results from “pay-to-publish” online journals. You can vet an online journal by checking to see if it’s in the National Library of Medicine Catalog of Journals referenced in the NCBI databases.
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Use all the same tips you would for general searching.
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Be sure to vet the author by looking them up. Make sure they are authoritative sources of information (credentials, training, etc.).
National Library of Medicine Resources.
PubMed: great for current medical literature.
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Select filters from the left side of your search results.
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Select “Free full text available” to make sure you only get open access articles.
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Select types of articles to get higher quality studies (clinical trial, meta-analysis, review, systematic review and practice guideline are all recommended).
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Tip: If you find an abstract but the full article requires payment, try copying the article title into Google and searching for it.
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PubMed Subset Bookmarks:
TOXNET: information on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health and toxic releases.
Additional TOXNET resources:
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Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System (CCRIS) — Carcinogenicity and mutagenicity test results for over 8,000 chemicals
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Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Database (DART) — References to developmental and reproductive toxicology literature
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Genetic Toxicology Data Bank (GENE-TOX) — Peer-reviewed genetic toxicology test data for over 3,000 chemicals
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Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) — Hazard identification and dose-response assessments for over 500 chemicals
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International Toxicity Estimates for Risk (ITER) — Risk information for over 600 chemicals from authoritative groups worldwide
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Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed) — A peer-reviewed and fully referenced database of drugs to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed. Household Products Database — Health and safety information on household products
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Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) — elucidates molecular mechanisms by which environmental chemicals affect human disease
NCBI Bookshelf: access to over 1,400 online texts and reports on topics related to healthcare and life sciences.
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