FCS 5205:  Maternal and Child Nutrition

Dr. Coleman-Kelly

Need Help? Please Contact Us

If you have tried to find materials for your topic using the information below and are having difficulty, please email me and I can offer some help by email or meet with you in person. For immediate assistance, please contact the Reference Desk at (828) 262-2820, via chat or come to the Library.

Marilia Antunez

antunezmy@appstate.edu

Science and Allied Health Librarian

Research Strategy

After you have picked a topic, when conducting a database search, consider these tips:

1. A term is the keyword you enter on the search box to conduct a search.  Subject Headings are the database's controlled vocabulary. To search if the keyword you entered has a subject heading, search the database's thesaurus (e.g. CINAHL Headings for CINAHL; MeSH for PubMed).
2. Use the thesaurus (e.g. CINAHL Headings) to search for subject headings on your topic for greater relevancy in your search results.  The subject headings are the terms assigned to the article by the indexer. Note that you can only search one subject heading at a time. The benefit of using subject headings is that it helps you identify synonyms and provides more precise search results.
3. If you select more than one term (your chosen keyword) or subject headings (controlled vocabulary of the database), you can combine them using Boolean operators (AND or OR):

The basic Boolean operators - to broaden or narrow a search

Note: using parenthesis, you can use OR and AND at the same time, e.g.   gestational diabetes AND (dietitians OR dietetic technicians)

To Find Articles, Search these Databases

Databases (electronic indexes) are used to find citation information and abstracts (summaries of articles) needed to locate a particular article.

CINAHL Plus with Full Text

CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature) is the leading English-language nursing database providing indexing to over 3,000 nursing, allied health, biomedical, and consumer health journals including legal cases, clinical innovations, research instruments, selected conferences and proceedings, standards of professional practice, book chapters, patient education materials, educational software, and audiovisuals.

Use the "CINAHL Headings" link to help you search for the appropriate term indexed in the database. "CINAHL Headings" are used like a thesaurus to look up similar terms.
EXAMPLE: "Gestational diabetes Mellitus" is the recommended subject heading for gestational diabetes.

Note: use the Subheading, "Diet Therapy" when appropriate.

Limit your Results to narrow your search results. CINAHL works best when limits are applied as the final step of the search.
You may limit your results to specific dates, population groups, research articles, etc

PubMed
THE premier biomedical database.  PubMed is the free Web version of the MEDLINE database. PubMed is updated weekly and provides more comprehensive coverage than MEDLINE in the areas of medicine, nursing, allied health, and the basic life sciences.  MEDLINE, a subscription database, however, provides more full text articles.

Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition

Provides strong coverage in nursing and allied health including medical and professional literature in several formats.

Academic Search Premier.  1984-present.  Full text 1990-present.  Available on & off campus. Provides citations with abstracts for over 3,200 scholarly journals and popular magazines and offers full text for over 1,000 journals and coverage of over 1,700 peer-reviewed journals covering a wide variety of subjects.

Family & Society Studies Worldwide , BiblioLine, 1970-present (updated monthly)
References, with lengthy abstracts, for journal articles and books from a wide range of disciplines on family and human development topics.

Web of Science
Provides multidisciplinary information from approximately 9,000 of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world.  Web of Science consists of five databases including Science Citation Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index.

Is the Article Available in Full-text?

Three Ways for Finding the Full-text of the Article (*full-text = the whole article)
1. When using database(s), look for these links to direct you to the full-text of the article in the results screen: PDF Full Text and HTML Full Text.  Also, look for orange "Search for Full Text" button or Library holdings link within the record of the article. A new window will open with a series of options for finding the full-text at Appalachian (whether the journal is available online or in print).

2. When searching for a specific citation (author, source, volume, issue, etc) that you want, search the Library Catalog using the "Journal Title Search" to search for the journal title to see if the journal is available at Appalachian State University Library in print or electronic format. 

Bound periodicals owned by ASU are located on the bottom floor of the library.  Journals are shelved in alphabetical order.

3. If not at Appalachian? If the journal is not available, submit an InterLibrary Loan (ILLIAD) or ABC Express request to obtain a free copy of the article you need from another institution. Please follow the steps below:

(1) To do this, first find out if the other WNCLN schools (i.e. Western Carolina University or University of North Carolina at Asheville) have the paper copy of the journal by checking for the journal title on the WNCLN Catalog

(2) If journal is not available in any of the WNCLN schools, submit a request for the article via ILLIAD.  You will need to create an ILLIAD account to utilize this service.  Please consult a librarian for any questions.

Website Evaluation

It is imperative that you verify the quality and reliability of the health information to be certain that the information is appropriate for your assignments.  These specific criteria can help you determine the credibility of any information you located on the Internet:

AUTHORITY: the information source is clearly define and contact information is available

CURRENTY: the information is current and the links are working and updated

BIAS: the site is designed for non-commercial purposes.  Because many are FREE websites, check their credibility.

ACCURACY: the information can be verified in other sources.

Authoritative websites will have some or all of these criteria.  To aid you in critically evaluating health information, the Medical Library Association (MLA) developed A User’s Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Web.  For example, the recommended websites in this guide were selected to complement your research for your assignments and are reliable sources. Also, consider checking for the rating of a website at Tufts University's Nutrition Navigator, which provides a rating guide to nutrition websites including a rating and evaluation criteria.

Grey Literature and Other Unpublished Materials

Maternal and Child Health Library (Georgetown University)

Includes MCH (Maternal and Child Health) Line, MCH Organizations Database, MCH Projects Database, and Healthy Start Collection Database.  MCHLine is a bibliographic database that lists materials held in the Mary C. Egan Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University.  The library focuses on publications from federal and state agencies, grantees of federal and state agencies, and from professional and voluntary agencies.  It contains unique materials on the history of MCH in the United States, policy papers, reports, reports, conference proceedings, manuals, survey instruments, guidelines, and curricula.  The Healthy Start Collection Database is an online catalog of items developed by the Healthy Start sites, including brochures, bylaws, curricula, marketing materials, policies, and reports, along with other material related to maternal and infant health.

POPLINE (Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health)

Database of citations and abstracts of published and unpublished international reproductive health literature.  Subject coverage includes family planning, population law and policy, and primary health care, including maternal/child health in developing countries. Maintained by the Population Information Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Nutrition.gov
"...a new federal resource, provides easy access to all online federal government information on nutrition. This national resource makes obtaining government information on nutrition, healthy eating, physical activity, and food safety, easily accessible in one place for many Americans." Information is arranged under the following broad headings (with subheadings): Food Facts, Food Safety, Lifecycle Issues, Health Management, Food Assistance, Research, and Resources.

MEDLINEplus
".a gold mine of up-to-date, quality health care information from the world's largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. MEDLINEplus is for anyone with a medical question. Both health professionals and consumers can depend on it for accurate, current, medical information."

Food and Nutrition Information Center
A wealth of information: reports, bibliographies, guidelines for professionals and consumers.

Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
Includes links to nutrition policy reports and to the full text of articles from Family Economics and Nutrition Review beginning with the Spring and Summer 1998 issue.

Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition
Information on the CFSAN, its programs and special interest areas

Arbor Nutrition Guide
For professionals, this site includes many excellent links. Search by keyword or use the subject directory which starts with four areas: applied, clinical, food science, and food.

Additional Noteworthy Websites

• American Dietetic Association
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  Under "Health Topics A-Z" click the following for more information: Child Development; Infants; Growth Charts; and Maternal Health.
  Child Development Library Databases (library subscription databases)
• Children's Nutrition Research Center (Baylor College of Medicine)
• Food and Nutrition Information Center (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture)
• Topics list includes breast feeding, child nutrition, infant nutrition, pregnancy, etc.
  
• La Leche League
• Maternal and Child Health Bureau
• Provides full text of bureau publications such as "Effect of Healthy Start on Infant Mortality and Birth Outcomes," July, 2000.
  
• National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health
  
• Nutrition Library Databases

Finding Books

The WNCLN Catalog (ASU Library Catalog)

Search the WNCLN Catalog to find find items owned by the ASU Library (as well as other institutions in the Western North Carolina Library Network). These items include books, e-books, government documents, journals, maps, and audiovisual materials.  You can search by keyword, author, title, or subject. Most nutrition materials have a call numbers beginning with R???.  Remember that the Catalog does not contain information about journal articles.  You must use a database to find articles.

STAT!Ref: The Electronic Medical Library 

STAT!REF is a collection of medical textbooks in electronic format. Currently, there are 52 nursing reference books, searchable and full-text online.

Selected Print Sources

• CRC Desk Reference for Nutrition by Carolyn D. Berdanier. CRC Press.
  ASU Reference QP141 .B523 2005
• Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition edited by Michele J. Sadler et al.  3 vols. Academic Press.
  ASU Reference   QP141 .E526 2005
• Encyclopedia of Nutrition and Good Health by Robert A. Ronzio. Facts on File.
  ASU Reference   RA784 .R646 2003
• "From Feeds to Meals: the Development of Hunger and Food Intake in Infants and Young Children,"
  by Robert Drewett et al,  chapter 10, pp. 204-217, of  Current Issues in Infancy and Parenthood edited by Catherine A. Niven & Anne Walker. Butterworth-Heinemann. ASU Main Stacks RJ134 .C87 1998
• Growth and Risk in Infancy by Stephen Briggs. Jessica Kingsley Pubs.
  ASU Main Stacks RJ134 .B75 1997
• Handbook of Pediatric Nutrition edited by Patricia Q. Samour et al. Aspen Pubs.
  ASU Main Stacks   RJ206 .H23 2005
• Infant and Toddler Health Sourcebook: Basic Consumer Health Information About the Physical and Mental Development of Newborns, Infants, and Toddlers, Including Neonatal Concerns, Nutritional Recommendations, Immunization Schedules, Common Pediatric Disorders, Assessments and Milestones, Safety Tips, and Advice for Parents and Other Caregivers edited by Jenifer Swanson. Omnigraphics.
  ASU Main Stacks   RJ101 .I535 2000
• Maternal Nutrition Knowledge and Children's Diet Quality and Nutrient Intakes   by James R. Blaylock et al. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1999. (Microform)
  ASU Microform US    A93.2:N95      (Also web access from the library catalog)

CITE! CITE! CITE!

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas without giving them credit.   A few examples of plagiarism include:

• Cutting and pasting words from a website or online article into your paper without including where the information came from
• Slightly changing the words from an article, book, or website without including information about the original source
• Describing someone else’s idea in a paper without telling where the idea came from

Plagiarism is a clear violation of the Appalachian State University’s Academic Integrity Code. To avoid plagiarism, always cite your sources! 

Use Citation Software (e.g. EndNote®) to Help you Construct Citations
To save you time, you may want to use EndNote®, a bibliography and citation manager that enables you to store reference information and cite sources in several bibliographic citation styles including JADA and AMA. EndNote® Web, the Web-based version and EndNote® XI (the latest version) are available to ASU students, faculty, and staff.  To access these versions of EndNote®, go to the EndNote page.   To install EndNote XI on your computer, go to the Circulation Desk at the Belk Library and check out the installation CD-ROM. 

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Content editor: Virginia Branch, branchvc@appstate.edu, Reference & Instruction Librarian

Updated by Marilia Antunez, Science and Allied Health Librarian, August 27, 2008