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Global Health Subject Guide

A guide to library and information resources for global health students

Finding information

As a Global Health student you will be expected to use a wide variety of information sources for your academic study and assignments.

See below for a list of key resources for Global Health studies.

Useful books to get you started

Finding information

image of hunter logo

Use Hunter, the library's discovery tool,  to find books by title or author, journal articles or journal titles.

1. Find books

To find books in Hunter, enter your search terms, select Books and more. Sign in to find the book location and availability.

Some books are available as e-books, select View Online to view electronic versions. You will need to login with your university login to access these. 

2. Find journal articles

In Hunter, enter an article title or a few words from the title and select Articles and more. Select view online and follow the link to the full text. You will need to login with your St George's login to access these off-site.  

3. Find journals

To find a specific journal in Hunter, type in the name of the journal and select Journal Titles results will include journal titles from the Library’s electronic and print journal collections. You will need to login with your university login to access electronic journals off-site. 

 

Databases and e-resources

Healthcare databases allow you to track-down journal articles by topic and where possible link you to the whole article if the library owns it in its collection. They offer a more comprehensive search than Hunter. Key databases for Global Health include:

We also provide access to evidence-based healthcare resources such as:

To find these and more and to see the offsite access links, visit our Databases page.  If you know which resource you are looking for, use the A-Z list to navigate to it. You can also browse databases by speciality or resource type. When you have selected a resource, choose the appropriate on-site (no login required) or off-site (university login required) link to access it.

Books are organised on the library shelves using the National Library of Medicine classification system, made up of a series of letters and numbers.

A typical shelf mark - or call number - looks something like this:

A diagram of the NLM classification used in SGUL library, with the example WK 700 MAR. The first letters (e.g. WK) indicate the main subject, the numbers (e.g. 700) indicate the sub-topic and the last letters (e.g. MAR) indicate the author.

There are a range of call numbers running from A-Z, however you will find the majority begin with a Q or a W. We've highlighted a few examples of the types of topics that will be help for Medicine students. You can find a full list of these topics at the ends of the library shelves.

QS Human Anatomy

QT Physiology

QV Pharmacology

QZ Pathology

W General Medicine

WA Public Health

WB Practice of Medicine

WC Communicable Diseases

WE Musculoskeletal System

WF Respiratory System

WG Cardiovascular System

WH Hematic System

WI Digestive System

WL Nervous System

WM Psychiatry

WO Surgery

WP Gynaecology

WQ Obstetrics

WS Paediatrics

 

flag Resource Lists

Note: Your lecturers will provide lists of recommended resources in Canvas.

The majority of our journal articles are available online, although we do have a number of print journals available for reference. These can be found in the rolling stacks based in the smaller silent study section of the library.

The most effective way to search our subscriptions is to use Hunter; just enter keywords relating to your topic and select 'Articles and more' from the drop-down menu to get started. A step-by-step guide to finding articles can be found here.

However, if you are carrying out a large research project or a literature review, you'll need to use more sophisticated search tools (such as Ovid or EBSCOhost) to carry out more detailed literature searches. Our Principles of effective literature searching guide provides a useful introduction to the search process, and you can always book yourself on to one of our training sessions if you feel you need more support. The 'Key databases and e-resources' tab to left highlights some of our recommendations for Global Health students.

flag Offsite access

Note: If you're accessing online resources offsite, you will be asked for a username and password. Use the St George's username and password that you use to access the University computers.

The log in page can look different depending on the supplier of the article, but will usually refer to an 'institutional login'. You will normally need to select your location (e.g. UK Access Management Federation) and then select your 'institution'. Remember to look for 'City St George's'.

This might also be referred to as a 'Shibboleth' login - again, just use your St George's username and password when prompted.

Online Resources

Libraries

Websites