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Health Care Assistant

This guide will help students with Health Care Assistant research in the OC Library collection and on the Internet. Use the Tab on the left - "Courses and Assignments" - for specific campus and/or course information.

Evaluating Information Sources

The World Wide Web (WWW) and the OC Library collection make it is easy to obtain information. It is more difficult to identify sources you can rely on.  Evaluate your information sources carefully to be sure you've selected material that is both trustworthy and appropriate for your assignnment.

Use this checklist (5Ws + IH) to help you evaluate your sources:

                   .  Scholarly Academic Publications         Popular Publications

Author

(Who?)

Written by an expert in the field of study (an academic or trained specialist) Written by those without expertise in the field (a member of the public or journalist) or no author is stated 

Date

(When?)

Date of publication is provided Popular publications, especially WWW publications, often do not give a date of publication

Publisher

(Who / Where?)

Colleges/Universities, professional associations, scholarly publishers + research institutes    Commercial for-profit publishers or members of the public

Purpose  

(What / Why?) 

To report on experiments, theories, case studies + other research    To sell advertised products, inform, promote a point of view or entertain

Editing

(Who?)

Peer review by experts in the field Review by a generalist (a magazine editor) or no review

Documentation

(What?)

Sources used in the author's research are cited in a reference list or footnotes    Sources are rarely cited or are inaccurate

Other

(How?)

Accurate spelling + grammar, few advertisements, logical + well written

Spelling + grammar errors may occur, many advertisements, poor or variable writing quality 

     

Evaluating Sources on the Web

Diseases + Health Conditions Websites

 

HealthLinkBC     Go to Illness and Conditions   to learn about common health concerns and how to prevent or treat them

BC Ministry of Health     Clinical practice guidelines and protocols in British Columbia (BC Guidelines for health practitioners & professionals). Browse by alphabetical listing. Download PDF Guides for Patients

BC Centre for Disease Control         Health Info > Disease types

   

Health Canada     Diseases and conditions

Public Health Agency of Canada    Chronic diseases    Infectious diseases

 

Merck manual: The Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy  (Professional & Consumer Versions)

MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine)       Health topics with Patient Handouts

Mayo Clinic       Go to Patient Care and Health Information then Diseases and Conditions

US Centers for Disease Control (CDC)       Diseases & conditions
US National Institutes of Health     Health information
 
 
 

Drug Reference Websites

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