Allied Health 

These are your basic research links for finding information on many different subjects.

For statistics see box below.

For public libraries see box to the far right.

Enter your search terms here.  Click here for different strategies and shortcuts in using Google.

This guide is produced by the Kaplan College Hagerstown Library and provides resources for the Allied Health field. It lists databases, websites, and relevant associations. You may also search our inhouse book collection by selecting "catalog" in the search box or search the web using google by selecting "web".

The library has developed several resource guides to aid in researching. This guide lists general resources available online and in the library that can be consulted for almost any topic. Other guides for specific subjects are listed in the tabs above. You may also search using keywords in the search box provided. Note that you may either search the guides, the library catalog, or the web using google. Below are basic search tools to consider when beginning your research. See also Find a Topic for suggested steps in finding and researching a topic.

Use this box to search in our own library catalog. We have about 10,000 books in our program areas.

Kaplan Online Library  (in depth research)
This online library (provided by the University of Alabama) has thousands of books and articles and is for doing in depth research. It is a series of excellent databases, generally full-text, in all fields and is provided to Kaplan students currently enrolled. A Kaplan ID (separate from the school ID) is required for access and can be obtained in the library or by emailing the librarian (tstatton@kaplan.edu). Under electronic books there are over 63,000 books which are full-text and online. Under electronic articles, you can select a database and get full-text access to many thousands of journals, magazines, and newspapers. Start with Academic Search Premier and add other databases as needed. Lexis-Nexis is also excellent and covers business and legal issues. See this video for a short video demonstration of accessing the Kaplan Online Library.

Issues & Controversies Database (discovering topics)

Use the above box to search directly in the database. Issues and Controversies helps researchers understand the crucial issues we face today, exploring more than 800 hot topics in business, politics, government, education, and popular culture. Updated weekly, with links to a 12-year back-file, Issues and Controversies offers in-depth articles for thought-provoking debates. This database is great for research papers and debate prep. This database can be accessed directly from all computers on campus. For the remote access password, please see the librarian.

Magill's Medical Guide (discovering medical topics)

Magill's Medical Guide is an online medical encyclopedia that the library subscribes to. It contains concise articles on a broad spectrum of medical topics, including diseases, conditions, procedures, drugs, etc. Access on campus is automatic requires no password. If you are off-campus, you must use a password which is available from the librarian (tstatton@kaplan.edu). There is also a 5 volume print edition in the library.

Google

Google is an excellent search tool but is most useful for finding very specific information or very current information. Since Google will find many websites dealing with the topic, it is most important to evaluate those sites for accuracy, authority, bias, currency, and reliability. Try using Librarian Internet Index or Best Info on the Net (listed below) or even the Google Directory for sites that have been selected for their relevance by subject experts. When using Google, use this strategy to improve your results. Google also provides a list of advanced operators that you can use when conducting a search. Some quick tips are listed below:

• Use quotes to find specific phrases, such as "eskimo pie" or "identity theft"
• Use the tilde sign ~ in front of a term to find synonyms.
• Put define in front of the term to get definitions and related words: define chron's disease
• Use the different databases in the top left. For charts click on "images". For videos click on "you tube". For articles click on "scholar".
• In advanced search select the format as PDF to get generally more detailed information. Or use ppt to get powerpoint presentations of the topic.
• In advanced search use the date to get more recent information.

Librarian Internet Index (and other directories)    (discovering topics)
LII is is a directory, not a search engine. It is good for searching on broad topics. A directory is much more selective than search engines . By entering a topic LII gives you a list of selected websites with descriptions about each. Generally the information is more relevant to the topic. Directories also have classification systems that allow you to search for related areas and to see all the subtopics in a given subject. Other directories similar to LII are Internet Public Library, the Open Directory Project and the Yahoo Directory (not the search engine).

Fed Stats (Federal Statistics)
Fedstats is a general search page for finding statistics provided by U.S. federal agencies. You can search by A-Z topic or by entering a search term. There is a list of federal agencies and a description of each agency. Also included are maps showing state statistics and a list of other geographic statistics on international comparisons, local and regional. Listed also is The Statistical Abstract of the United States, the standard compendium of demographic and other statisticis. 

General Statistics
This site covers statistics in all areas and is very comprehensive. It is sponsored by the University of Michigan libraries.

Washington County Public Library
The main branch is located in Hagerstown, Md. We can obtain books and material through interlibrary loan. If you are a Maryland resident, you can also obain online access to their many business, statistical, geneological, literary, and other databases.

Enoch Pratt Free Library

This is the main library for Maryland and is located in downtown Baltimore. It has a large collection of books, magazines, journals and other materials. We can borrow materials through interlibrary loan.

The following are the links to the catalog of other libraries in our area. It's a good idea to get a library card in the county where you live. We can borrow from Washington County and Enoch Pratt (Baltimore) libraries.  The Worldcat website allows you to search for books and locate libraries near you that have the book. If you find a book in any of these library catalogs, send us the citation and we will order it through interlibrary loan.