Collins Memorial Library: EXSC 222: Human Anatomy: Finding Background Information

Getting Started

First, try searching for your condition in one or more of the tertiary sources below. Then, if you'd like, you can leverage your new knowledge when searching for primary and secondary scholarly sources about your condition. If you'd like a refresher on types of sources, consult the table at the bottom of this page.

Subject Encyclopedias (Scholarly Tertiary Sources)

These sources, while written for an audience of the general public, are acceptable to cite in your projects, since they were written, edited, or peer-reviewed by experts in their subject matter.

The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine
Includes information on almost 2,000 medical disorders and concepts. Each article includes in-depth discussion of causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatments, procedures, and other related topics. Written for a general audience with an authoritative tone. Use the "Search Within Publication" box to find entries.
The A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia
The A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia includes over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.
Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary (10 ed.)
This bestselling and market-leading dictionary covers all aspects of medical science and terminology. Written by a team of medical experts, it has been fully revised and updated for this new edition to reflect the latest in medical knowledge and practice.
Searching for Encyclopedias in the Library Catalog
You can use our library catalog (Primo) to find online reference entries. To do so, search for the name of your condition. Once results load, then use the filters to set "Resource Type" to "Reference Entries" then select "Apply Filters"

Secondary / Tertiary Popular Sources

These sources are acceptable to use when learning about background information for your condition, but are inappropriate to cite in your projects:

Wikipedia. Cite a tertiary source above instead or check the Wikipedia page's references section for specific claims.
Mayo Clinic / WebMD / MedicalNewsToday / other online websites. Cite the tertiary sources above or a primary/secondary source instead.
News articles about new medical discoveries. Cite the research the article is referencing instead.
Sources without a listed author/reviewer.

Types of Sources

	Scholarly Sources	Popular Sources
Primary Sources	Peer Reviewed Published in a scholarly journal Contains first-hand reports of research presented by the person or team that did the research. We cite these to reference the results and discussion of their research.	Not peer-reviewed Published anywhere E.g. Someone doing their own experiment and posting it on their blog E.g. A news organization conducting their own research and releasing their own data visualizer (In the social sciences and humanities, these can be historical documents, art, speeches, etc. But we don't use these in the sciences) We don't cite these because they haven't been peer reviewed.
Secondary Sources	Peer reviewed Published in a scholarly journal Draw on other scholarly publications to come up with their own conclusions There are two main types: "Narrative Reviews" and "Systematic Reviews/Meta Analyses" We cite systematic reviews because they mathematically compare studies on the same topic to determine an overall trend Narrative reviews do not systematically compare studies, only mention them, so we generally cite primary-source studies instead of these. Narrative reviews are generally considered "expert opinion", which is weaker evidence than the results of a study.	Reports on and draws conclusions from primary scholarly sources. Published anywhere News article, press release, trade publication, blog post, etc. We don't cite these because if they just report on a primary source, we should go to the primary source itself, and if they provide analysis, that analysis hasn't been peer reviewed.
Tertiary Sources	Gives an overview of information accumulated from primary and secondary sources Does not provide original interpretations or analyses You use these in the beginning of your research process to learn about your topic. You may or may not cite these depending on your audience: Facts that would be common knowledge to your audience don't need to be cited.	Gives an overview of information gathered from primary and secondary sources Does not provide original interpretations or analysis Not operated by a scholarly institution or organization. Wikipedia. You won't cite these, but you'll use them in the beginning of your research process to learn about your topic.