HLT 230 Assignment Playbook

• Make sure you read your assignment carefully. Ask your instructor for clarification regarding your assignment requirements.
• In addition to your course materials, you will need to locate a minimum of two outside sources.
  • Your sources should be primary sources or government reports. 
• Cite your sources using APA format. Use the library's APA citation style playbook for help with formatting citations.

• Go to the EBSCO portal. 
• On the Choose Databases page, click on Select All, then click Continue.
• Type your topic in the first search box. Use a small number of nouns (usually one or two); for example: hypertension. You can use multiple nouns by connecting them with "AND". For example, hypertension AND race. Do not use verbs, prepositions (after, between, etc.), articles (a, the, etc.), phrases, or vague terms (relationship, effect).
• Click Search.

• You can ask EBSCO to limit your results to peer reviewed sources.  After you run your search, look on the left hand side of the screen and under "Limit To," check the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" box.

• Select an article that is listed as being full text. This means the entire article is available to you. Should an article you wish to use not be available, you may request it using the Interlibrary Loan Request form. This is a free service. 
• To create the citation for your article, use the APA citation style playbook.

Definitions of what is primary or secondary differ across the disciplines. For the sciences, a primary source

•     documents the results of original research
•     is written by those who have conducted the research
•     includes firsthand information about their methodologies, data, results, or conclusions.

Primary sources in the sciences:

•     report original research, ideas, or scientific discoveries for the first time
•     report results/findings/data from experiments or research studies
•     may also be referred to as primary research, primary articles, or research studies
•     are NOT meta-analyses, systematic reviews, or literature reviews - these are secondary sources
•     are frequently found in peer-reviewed or scholarly journals
•     should explain the research methodology used (randomized controlled trial, etc)
•     frequently include methods, results, and discussion sections
•     are factual, not interpretive

Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary Sources

• Research articles presenting original research (studies) published in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals
• Clinical trials
• Interviews
• Correspondence
• Patents
• Lab notebooks
• Data sets
• Theses and dissertation
• Technical reports

Secondary sources

• Summaries, critiques, or interpretations of primary literature
• Literature reviews
• Reports from prior studies
• Health information systems maintained by government health departments (These track information related to disease surveillance data, immunization coverage, and other data that provides information from monitoring of population health indicators).
• Meta-analyses
• Systematic reviews

You may also use government reports for your chosen health disparity. To find government reports, you can use a search engine such as Google or Bing. To limit your results to a government site, format your search like this:  

• hypertension AND race site:.CDC.gov

You can also use the government sites listed below. 

• For help finding resources, use the library's playbooks. Librarians can help you understand the playbooks, but they cannot conduct research for you.
• For help with formatting citations, please consult the library's citation styles playbooks. Please note the librarians cannot help you with citation generators or with any citation guide other than the library's. 
• For help with composition issues (such as spelling, grammar, flow, etc.), visit the Writing Center.
• If you have questions, email the  librarians at reference@pvcc.edu, visit the library and speak with a librarian, or connect via chat. If your section has an embedded librarian, contact that specific librarian.