Subject and Course Guides: Health Professions Summer Programs Guide: Background Resources

Why Use Background Sources?

Use background sources to find:

A broad overview of a topic
Important dates, names and other facts.
Useful terminology which you can use to strengthen your research.

In general, the encyclopedias available through the library are more reliable than Wikipedia or other web sites, as they have undergone an editorial review process.

Sage Research Methods

General Reference Sources

Credo Reference
Provides access to a collection of aggregated and integrated reference books from high-quality publishers.
Oxford Reference Online
Oxford Reference Online is a digital reference shelf of topical encyclopedias, handbooks, thesauruses and dictionaries with emphasis on Literature and Western Civilization . Limited to 5 simultaneous users.
Ulrichsweb/Ulrich's Periodicals Directory
Ulrichweb provides comprehensive information on serials published throughout the world.
Ulrichweb provides detailed, comprehensive, and authoritative information on serials published throughout the world. It covers all subjects, and includes publications that are published regularly or irregularly and are circulated free of charge or by paid subscription.

Point-of-Care Tools

DynaMed
DynaMed is an evidence-based information resource used by physicians around the world to answer clinical questions quickly and easily. DynaMed includes thousands of topics covering emergency medicine, cardiology, oncology, infectious diseases, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology and much more.

Note: if you get an error message, close the browser and try accessing the site again.

As of June 30, 2024, UIC will no longer have an institutional subscription to DynaMed. More info.

Consumer Health

MEDLINEPlus
Consumers' health information produced by the National Library of Medicine that is authoritative and up to date.
Produced by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINEPlus provides health professionals and consumers information that is authoritative and up to date. MEDLINEplus has extensive information from the National Institutes of Health and other trusted sources on over 500 diseases and conditions. There are also lists of hospitals and physicians, a medical encyclopedia and dictionaries, health information in Spanish, extensive information on prescription and nonprescription drugs, health information from the media, and links to thousands of clinical trials.

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Health Professions Summer Programs Guide: Background Resources

Why Use Background Sources?

Sage Research Methods

General Reference Sources

Point-of-Care Tools

Consumer Health

Richard J. Daley Library

Library of the Health Sciences, Chicago

Library of the Health Sciences, Peoria

Crawford Library of the Health Sciences, Rockford

UIC Law Library