MGH Guides: Occupational Therapy PP-OTD: Getting Started with Your Capstone

Answering Background Questions

Background questions tend to be informational questions that ask for general information.

Answers to background questions are best found in secondary and tertiary sources, such as review articles and clinical guidelines, textbooks, and reference materials (e.g. encyclopedias, etc.)

Use these databases to find answers to background questions.

AOTA
This and other trustworthy organizations are great places to get background information about conditions and interventions. Don't forget about organizations like the American Diabetes Association or Massachusetts General Hospital.
Department of Health and Human Services
This agency has just about all of the health related agencies under its umbrella including the CDC, NIH, and CMS just to name a few. These sources are great for background info and especially helpful for data and statistics.
UpToDate
UpToDate is a point-of-care resource for health information. You can find basic information about conditions and diseases as well as evidence summaries for diagnosis, intervention, prognosis.
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Medline Plus
MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health's Web site for information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues.
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Locating Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are great places to start your search for information. They provide an overview of current research and can help you identify vocabulary for your searches.

Searching for Reviews in PubMed

1. Search for your topic.

2. Select Review from the filters in the left sidebar.

Searching for Reviews in CINAHL

1. Search for your topic.

2. Look at the Refine Results column on the left and select Show More.

3. Select Review in the Publications box and then Search.

Zotero

Zotero Logo. The Z is in burgundy and the rest of the letters are in black.

Zotero is a free citation management tool whose central feature is that it can easily and accurately import items directly from the web. It has a desktop application as well as a "Browser Connector" to make it work with most major browsers. Zotero also integrates into Microsoft Word and GoogleDocs for easy citation insertion and reference list creation.

New to Zotero? Take the D2L workshop!

Quick Set-Up Instructions

Create your Zotero account
An account isn't required, but in order to sync your account across multiple devices, you'll need to register. You are not restricted to your IHP email and may use whichever email address you prefer.
Zotero Downloads
Select whichever version(s) you want. We highly recommend downloading both the Zotero app and the Zotero Connector plug-in.

Do you need to import your library from RefWorks?

Take a look at our page about Transitioning from RefWorks to Zotero for step-by-step instructions.

More Help

Bellack's Complete Guide to Zotero
Ask a Librarian
For live assistance, please request an appointment with a librarian.
Mobile Apps for Zotero
A list of mobile apps endorsed by Zotero.