The Sheridan Libraries

Biomedical Engineering and Design

Information specific to BME and BME/CBID design teams.

Who Can Help Me?

Sue Vazakas

  • svazakas@jhu.edu
  • 410-516-4153
  • MSEL C-level, along the back wall

Jim Gillispie (Patents and Law)

  • jeg@jhu.edu
  • MSEL M-level

Find Journal Articles, News, and More

Save your time! Use these search techniques:
  • Put quotation marks around PHRASES (two or more words), so that the words are searched together
    --- Example: "chicken pox"
     
  • Put an asterisk at the end of words, so that you get all of the word endings
    --- Example: high* = high, highs, higher, highest
     
  • Think of alternate spellings or synonyms
    --- "cyber security" OR cybersecurity -- it's used both ways. You should also add "information security" OR "computer security"
     
  • Start by putting your search words in the Title. If you get nothing, you can take them out of the Title and move them to "Anywhere."
Get an overview of your topic by searching textbooks and review articles.


Consumer Information:

  • MedlinePlus.gov -- This National Library of Medicine site is the FIRST place you should go for health information.
    "Health Topics" is the link to medical information, and there are also links to a medical encyclopedia and dictionary.

Textbooks:

Review Articles -- These are overviews of a topic, including its history and state of the art. They are longer than most articles, and have lots of references. 

  • Engineering -- Do a search in Compendex, and add the word  "review" to the article TITLE

  • Medicine and related topics -- Do a search in PubMed, and choose "review article" (top left, under "Publication Types")

Statistics -- This page lists sources for data and statistics.

Finding Information about BME and Everything Else
 

1. Library home page --> Databases

2.  Click "Browse list of databases"




3. Choose a subject to see the databases with information about it.

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4. In each list, start with the databases under CORE -- they are the best and most relevant 

  • For a description about what's in the database, click "More Info" next to the database name

5. Technical info -- Use the databases in the Engineering list, starting with Compendex (includes IEEE, ACM, crypto conferences, etc.)

6. Patents -- Please go to the Patents page on the Engineering guide, and take your time reading through the information. Looking for patents can take some time, so be patient.

7. News -- News items can give you the most recent information about products, companies, and other information sources about your topics.

8. Broad Search for Articles

  • All subjects: Start with a database called Academic Search Ultimate, which covers all disciplines. Along with that one, you can choose any other databases you want to search:


     

9. Very Broad Search for Articles -- see the Google Scholar page

For time-saving tips about how to use Google Scholar, see the Google Scholar page in this guide.

Measurement / Classification

Rehabilitation Measures Databases (from Shirley Ryan Activity Lab)

AM-PAC (Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care "6-Clicks" Basic Mobility and Daily Activity)  [NOTE: Not all of this information is accessible]

Cerebral Palsy

Organizations:

AbleData -- Was discontinued in September 2020. It shared "information to assist domestic and international customers and their family members, vendors, distributors, organizations, professionals and caregivers in understanding assistive technology (AT) options and programs available." Its publications are available at NARIC (see above).
   AbleData was not a government site -- it received funding from National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), which is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The library's Citing guide gives examples for the three main reference styles and some others. 
Always check the style to make sure your citation manager (which I hope is RefWorks) didn't leave anything out.


For Writing Help 

RefWorks is the citation manager that is supported by JHU. It is free for you.
 
  • Citation managers let you export citations FROM databases INTO the manager, so that you can put them into separate folders, and print out a bibliography in whatever style you want
     
  • Here is our guide about how to use it

Use the NEW RefWorks! Log in here.
  • Here are video tutorials about the NEW RefWorks
     
  • NEVER search from WITHIN RefWorks; always search from within the database itself

Plagiarism -- It is extremely important to make sure that your writing does not use someone else's work without properly acknowledging it. Even "paraphrasing" (putting someone else's writing into your own words) must be done in a very careful way.

These tutorials will help you learn the basics of avoiding plagiarism. You will always need to know this, not only during your academic career, but throughout your professional career, too.

Here are the instructions to get to these tutorials.

 

Undergrads -- Attached are some sample conference papers.

  • Last Updated: Apr 2, 2024 2:19 PM
  • URL: https://guides.library.jhu.edu/biomedical
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