Mental Health Research Paper

Assignment Guide | VNSG 1238 | Professor Marybeth Sinclair The best library assignments are ones that use a variety of resources including books, newspaper and journal articles, internet sites, and even videos or audiocassettes. We encourage you to use all of these sources for this paper. Books should provide some excellent background on your topic. You may apply for a library card and request materials online. We hope you will take full advantage of the many resources our libraries offer.

Please contact or Professor Sinclair with any questions you may have during your research.

ASSIGNMENT: you will be working in groups of three to provide information about a disease. The content of your presentation must include

You will be summarizing your research to your classmates in a short oral presentation. Your research will impact your classmates understanding of mental health nursing. See Professor Sinclair to get approval of your topic, or contact her at .

Topic Ideas:
      Depression and other mood disorders                             Anger and aggression
      Physical problems, psychological disorders                      Violence
      Eating and sleeping disorders                                         Suicide
      Dissociative disorders                                                    Substance related disorders
      Personality disorders                                                     Schizophrenia and other psychoses
      Sexual disorders.

Additional topics may be found at the following webpages:
         Medline Plus Mental Health and Behavior Topics - Medline is an online source of health related
           information presented by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health
         List of Mental Health Disorders - Internet Mental Health is a free encyclopedia of mental health
           information created by a Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Phillip Long.

Librarian talk about Getting Started!
As you begin, narrow your topic to a size that you can manage. Consider keywords that will help you find the information you need. These can be names of people, events, or broader identifying terms. Use these keywords for locating information in the library catalog, electronic databases, and on the internet. Keywords will include the name of the mental disorder your have chosen, signs and symptoms, treatment, therapy, drugs or psychopharmacologic treatment, and interventions.

Librarian Talk about Books!

Apply online for a library card. Use your card to 1) Place a Hold on a book 2) Access databases from home.
The catalog is online at librarycatalog.nhmccd.edu/ . This includes all NHMCCD college libraries as well as Montgomery County public libraries.
Full-text online books (Netlibrary is a library of online books) are available at www.netlibrary.com/. You will need to create an eBook account from any internet connected computer using your library barcode number.

1. Create an account - Select the Create an Account link. Enter your identifying information (user name, password, email address) and select Submit. Then you are ready to search the eBook collection and check out books for 24 hours from any computer.
2. If you can't come to the library Call 281-312-1693 and ask the librarian to create an account FOR YOU.

librarian.jpg (4337 bytes) Librarian Talk about Finding Journal Articles!
Electronic databases are purchased by the libraries for your research use to find articles in newspapers and journals, letters, reference books, illustrations, photographs and more. If you want an article that is not full-text, please email the correct bibliographic information to our and they will see that you get the article. The libraries need full bibliographic information - plus your name and address. Send your phone number and email as well, so you can be contacted. There is some overlap of articles in the following databases. However, we encourage do you to use more than one. All are excellent sources for this topic. For professional, scholarly or peer reviewed articles, limit your search using the appropriate button in the database search window.

Use your library card number to login to these online journal databases

Academic Search Premier | Collection of journal, newspaper, and magazine articles. Many scholarly.

ProQuest | Collection of journal, newspaper, and magazine articles. Many scholarly.

Health Source: Nursing Academic | Full-text articles, books, pamphlets, and reports on health and
psychology.

Health Reference Center Academic | Full-text articles from journals, and more on health, medicine and
psychology.

Librarian Talk about the Internet!
The Internet will be a wonderful source of original documents. Browse the sites we have suggested below. Remember, you do want to find reputable sites. Look at:

Accuracy - The information should be researched and show proof that it has been.
Source - Who wrote the information? Look at the domain. - .edu .gov. org .net are valid research sources.
Authority - What are the author's credentials? (Don't quote from another college freshman's paper.)
Coverage - Does the page have the information you need for your research?
Objectivity - If a work is bias, use it - just make sure your professor knows YOU know. And offer both sides of issues, where applicable.

Unacceptable Source: EXAMPLE of what NOT to use
http://www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh/bx/bx04b.html - This appears to be part of a book (not psychology, but a good example, nevertheless.) The information is probably excellent. But, there is nothing we can see that tells you the title, author, dates, publisher or any of the other needed information. As it stands, it can not be used in an academic research paper.

National Institute for Mental Health Mental disorder information including clinical trials, research and
statistics.

Anxiety Disorders Association of America Complete information on anxiety, as well as a special section on
teen anxiety.

Mental Help Net CenterSite Network of behavioral healthcare websites, and receives some content from
Mental Help Net.

CDC Topics Page Center for Disease Control and Prevention site includes many health and mental
disorders.

Support: Support for a successful paper is more than finding the right resources. Putting it all together takes time and effort. Sometimes it takes additional help from the librarians or tutors. Please consider the following:

Citing Sources MLA Style Guide | Kingwood College library guide. Examples of both paper and electronic citations. (See also APA Style Guide).

Misuse of Sources | Harvard University excellent brief essay on how to avoid plagiarism. Excellent list of 'how to' and 'how to avoid'.

The Learning Center | Check our Learning Center hours for in-house tutoring. Tutors at any of our colleges will be happy to help with your research assignment or with problems you may be having in class.

Attach your paper to and email to , Assistant Dean. Dr. Terry or one of the writing tutors will read through your paper and make brief comments on your paper and return it to you.

Talk to a reference librarian during the hours the library is open Monday through Saturday. If live chat is closed, it will allow you to email and the librarians will get back to you ASAP.
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Page created by Becky Bradley. January, 2003.