Gathering background information, or "presearch" is a crucial part of information gathering.  Reference books are a great source of background information.  Suggested resources for background information include:

Databases that cross-search books:

Remember, to link out to the full text of articles in databases such as PubMed and CINAHL, you'll need to use the Find It link. If you need a reminder on using the Find It link, please click here.

Before you begin searching in large article databases such as CINAHL or PubMed, be sure to create an effective search strategy to obtain optimal results.  Please download the document below.