You can search the Tripod catalog to find books, government documents, and more held by the Tri-College libraries. Start with a keyword search to find books on your topic. Keep in mind that you'll want to try synonyms and variations on your search terms--for example, if your project is on alcoholism treatment for women, try subsitituting woman, female, sex, gender, etc. for women; drinking for alcoholism; and rehab, rehabilitation, or counseling for treatment.
When you've located a relevant book, there are several strategies you can use to find additional related works. The first is to consult the book's bibliography; the second is to search by the subject headings you find in that book's Tripod record. These are near the bottom of the record, and if you click on the links, you'll find other books classified with the same subject heading. Some are broad, like Medical Economics or Public Health, while others are more specific, like Alcoholism--Social Aspects, Alcoholism--Economic Aspects, and Alcoholism--Treatment. (For this course, definitely be on the lookout for the "social aspects," "government policy," and "economic aspects" subheadings!)
Subject Portal » Economics » Course Guides »
ECON 75 : Health Economics (SC)
articles, policy papers, and reports:
Although you can search Tripod to find out if we have particular scholarly journals, the catalog doesn't contain information about individual articles within those journals. To locate articles, use one of our indexes or full-text databases, and click on the Find It! button 
to determine if we have access to the article you need either online or in print, or if you'll have to request it from another library. The resources below are recommended starting points for your research:
to determine if we have access to the article you need either online or in print, or if you'll have to request it from another library. The resources below are recommended starting points for your research:
EconLit
Provider: CSA
Provides abstracts to economic journals, books, book reviews, dissertations, and working papers. Topics include economic theory and history, monetary theory, labor economics, international, regional and urban economics. Coverage 1969-present.
Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online)
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1973-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1973-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1973-present.
Publisher: Cambridge, MA : National Bureau of Economic Research.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a nonprofit economic research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community" (from the NBER website). Try a full-text search of the collection to locate working papers on your topic.
Health affairs (Project Hope : Online)
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1981-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1981-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1981-present.
Publisher: Bethesda, MD : Project Hope.
"The policy journal of the health sphere." Search by keyword or browse by topic collection.
PubMed
Provider: NCBI
Includes over 15 million citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. Includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.
PolicyFile
Provider: Chadwyck-Healey
Provides online access to abstracts and full-text articles on public policy research and analysis from think tanks, university research programs, research organizations and publishers. Covers a wide range of topics from international trade to health care reform, from telecommunications regulation to terrorism.
PAIS international
Provider: CSA
Provides abstracts of journal articles, books, government documents, statistical compilations, committee reports, intergovernmental and private organizations' reports. Areas covered include political, economic, social and public policy issues. Covers 1915-present.
CQ researcher
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1991-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1991-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1991-present.
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Congressional Quarterly, Inc.
Contains reports on a variety of topics related to public policy and current affairs. A great place to get background information, an overview of the issues, a bibliography of important sources, and pro/con viewpoints from both sides of the debate.
CQ weekly
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1983-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1983-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1983-present.
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Congressional Quarterly,
Weekly reports on legislative activity.
statistics and data:
Health, United States, 2007 (statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) - McCabe Ref RA407.5 .H4 2007
Health care state rankings.
CDC Wonder
Access statistical research data published by the Centers for Disease Control, as well as reference materials, reports and guidelines on health-related topics. You can search public-use data sets about mortality (deaths), cancer incidence, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, vaccinations, natality (births), census data and many other topics. Register to save queries and results.
American FactFinder
American FactFinder displays demographic data from the Census to provide useful facts and information about communities and segments of the population.
news sources:
To locate newspapers and magazines, search one of the databases below or try a journal title search in Tripod to see if we have the publication in print or online.
LexisNexis academic
Provider: LN
Full-text of thousands of newspapers, magazines, news transcripts, reference works, and legal materials. Includes NY Times (1980-current)
Access world news
Provider: NewsBank
Newspaper collections from NewsBank provide full-text articles from the electronic editions of record for more than 700 newspapers around the globe, including the NY Times (2000-present). Database covers 1977-present.
Washington post (Washington, D.C. : 1974)
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1877-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1877-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1877-present.
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The Washington Post Co.,
Economist (London, England : 1843)
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1975-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1975-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1975-present.
Publisher: London : [Economist Newspaper Ltd.,
foundations, non-profits, and ngos:
The Urban Institute
Researches domestic policy issues and evaluates government programs; health policy topics include the medically uninsured, Medicare and Medicaid, managed care, state initiatives for health care reform, and acute and long term care.
Institute of Medicine
"Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public."
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
In addition to providing data related to the uninsured, the Kaiser Family Foundation also provides comparative state data on selected health issues. Browse the site by topic or view reports and fact sheets.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - Health Care Philanthropy
Funds and publishes research on issues related to health care access, substance abuse, and chronic care.
Center for Health Care Strategies
Funds research and provides technical assistance to improve the delivery of health care services for America's low income and special needs populations.
The Brookings Institution
additional resources:
Subject guide: Law
Subject guide: Medicine
Subject guide: Public Policy
requesting from other libraries:
Trico
Request items from Bryn Mawr and Haverford by clicking on the "request" button in Tripod. Use your name and the barcode from the back of your student ID. Your requested materials will generally arrive at Swarthmore in 1-2 days.
EZ-Borrow
You can also request items from our regional partner libraries using EZ-Borrow. Again, you'll need your 14-digit barcode number to make a request. These items usually arrive on campus in 3-5 days.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
If you can't get what you need from the Trico or EZ-Borrow libraries, our interlibrary loan specialists can help you--fill out an ILL request form, but keep in mind that these materials could take several weeks to arrive on campus.
If you're unsure of which service to use, check out this guide to Tri-College Borrowing and Interlibrary Loan.
Request items from Bryn Mawr and Haverford by clicking on the "request" button in Tripod. Use your name and the barcode from the back of your student ID. Your requested materials will generally arrive at Swarthmore in 1-2 days.
EZ-Borrow
You can also request items from our regional partner libraries using EZ-Borrow. Again, you'll need your 14-digit barcode number to make a request. These items usually arrive on campus in 3-5 days.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
If you can't get what you need from the Trico or EZ-Borrow libraries, our interlibrary loan specialists can help you--fill out an ILL request form, but keep in mind that these materials could take several weeks to arrive on campus.
If you're unsure of which service to use, check out this guide to Tri-College Borrowing and Interlibrary Loan.
cite sources and format your bibliography:
You may want to use Endnote Web, a bibliographic citation tool, to manage your sources. With Endnote Web, you can format citations, insert references, and keep track of your research. You'll need to create an account to get started--make sure to do so from a computer on the Swarthmore network! After that, you'll be able to access your Endnote Web account from anywhere, whether on campus or off.
General instructions for Endnote Web
Instructions for using economics/public policy databases and Endnote Web
General instructions for Endnote Web
Instructions for using economics/public policy databases and Endnote Web
research help:
Melanie Maksin, mmaksin1, 690-5786
If you need research assistance, I'm at the reference desk on Tuesdays, 12:30-3 p.m., and on Wednesdays, 7-10 p.m. You can also make an appointment or stop by to meet with me in my office, which is on Level 1 of McCabe.
Looking for more ways to ask a librarian? Call, email, IM, or come to the McCabe reference desk!
If you need research assistance, I'm at the reference desk on Tuesdays, 12:30-3 p.m., and on Wednesdays, 7-10 p.m. You can also make an appointment or stop by to meet with me in my office, which is on Level 1 of McCabe.
Looking for more ways to ask a librarian? Call, email, IM, or come to the McCabe reference desk!