Lone Star College - Kingwood Library

Assignment Guide

VNSG 1238:
Mental Health Research

Professor Marybeth Sinclair

The best library assignments are those 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 Lone Star College-Kingwood Librarians 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

The definition of the disease process
Signs and symptoms of the disease
Usual treatment and therapy modalities
Pharmacological approach and nursing care
Be creative in your presentation

Requirements for the paper are:

It must be double spaced, 1-2 pages only. Each group needs to turn in one paper. Each person needs to turn in one summary only.
Current journal sources from professional magazines or text
You may use your textbook as a resource
Topic will be selected by students. See Mrs. Sinclair for approval of topic
Work in groups of 3. Your choice.

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 Marybeth Sinclair.

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.

Books: Suggested Reference books

Librarian Talk . . .About Books!

Apply online for a library card. Use your card to:
1) Place a Hold on a book and have it sent to the library closest to you
2) Access journal and reference databases from home, and
3) Access e-Books from NetLibrary.

The catalog is online.
Online or e-Books are available at NetLibrary. Use your library card to log in.

REF RC455.2 .C4536 - DSM-IV-TR - The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Published by the American Psychiatric Association. This text is used by psychiatrists and clinicians to help with diagnosis and classification of mental disorders.
REF RC454.4 .M458 - Mental Health Disorders Sourcebook - Part of the Health Reference Series, this book offers basic information about many mental disorders including personality disorders, sleep disorders, eating disorders. It includes information on treatments and therapies.
REF RC454.N47 1999 - The Harvard Guide to Psychiatry - A revision of the classic text which gives state-of-the-art essays on various mental disorders.

Journals: Finding current articles using databases

Librarian Talk . . . About Finding Journal and Newspaper 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, use your updated library card to login to the following databases. If you find an interesting article that is not full-text, please give the correct bibliographic information to our Reference Librarians and they will see that you get the article. They will need full bibliographic information - and your name and address. Send your phone number as well, so they can contact you if they need to. There is some overlap of articles in the following databases. However, we encourage you to use more than one. All are excellent sources for this topic.

HINT: For a full list of article databases, go to http://Library.LoneStar.edu and use your library card for login.

Academic Search Complete - Collection of journal, newspaper, and magazine articles. Limit to "Scholarly (Peer reviewed) Journals" if professional journal articles are required.
ProQuest Research Library - Collection of journal, newspaper, and magazine articles. Limit to "Scholarly journals including peer reviewed" if scholarly or professional journal articles are required.
Health & Wellness Resource Center - 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.

Internet:

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 biased, use it - just make sure your professor knows YOU know. And offer both sides of issues, where applicable.

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 Mental Health Resources Page Center for Disease Control and Prevention - includes health and mental health disorders.

Support: Getting help for your assignment

Librarian Talk about getting help!

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 resources if you need additional help. Remember, the expert on the assignment is your professor; use the eCollege VISTA in-class email to contact her.

Citing Sources Using the Library APA Style Guide | Lone Star College-Kingwood Library guide. Examples of both paper and electronic citations.

Avoiding Plagiarism | Excellent information and guide on how to avoid plagiarism from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.

University of Texas Copyright Crash Course | This helpful guide on copyright is suggested by Lone Star College-Kingwood Teaching and Learning Center.

Learning Center | Check the TLC hours for in-house tutoring.

| Talk to a librarian. If nobody answers, please leave a message and we will e-mail a reply as soon as possible.

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Page created by Becky Bradley. January, 2003. Updated May, 08, BB.