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COH692: Public Health Capstone:  

Course Guide for COH 692

Course Assignment

Welcome to the National University Library's research guide for COH 692 - Public Health Capstone. Here, you'll find relevant journal articles, books, and more to help you complete your project!

While this guide will provide you with support to complete the research aspects of your assignment, please address all questions regarding content, formatting, and grading to your instructor.

For more information and library resources, see the Community Health Subject Guide

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Subjects: Health & Nursing

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Interlibrary Loan

NU Interlibrary Loan Service

Electronically request and receive articles, book chapters, or other resources when unavailable in full-text from the NU Library.

Library Capstone Presentation

Categorizing Research Studies: Checklists

Begin Research

Academic research is a multi-step process that doesn't always move in a straight line. You may find yourself returning to previous stages as you refine your topic. 

1. Choose & Focus

Think broadly about your research topic, then narrow and refine the focus as you gather background and additional information. 

 

 

2. Find Background Information

Use the databases linked below to find reference sources like encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks to get a general overview of your topic. Use this information to help narrow and focus your research topic. 

Find Statistics

 

Statista is a database containing data and statistics on over 60,000 topics, including media, business, finance, politics, and much more.

 

 

California Cancer Registry: Data and Statistics - California's statewide population-based cancer surveillance system.  Contains data and statistics on almost all cancers diagnosed in California.

California Department of Public Health Statistics - Statistical and data tables produced by the CA Department of Public Health.

California Health Care Quality Report Cards - U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

California Health Interview Survey - provides data on California s as well as on the states various racial and ethnic groups.

California's Health Care Workforce - Five Almanac guides explore selected health professions, providing data on wages, education, and workplaces.

California Health Ranking - United Health Foundation, America's Health Rankings.

California Nurses Facts and Figures - This Almanac snapshot examines nurse supply, education, and demographics.

Cancer Profiles: California - Quick and easy access to descriptive cancer statistics.

State Profiles: California - Project of the Kaiser Family Foundation and provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data.

CA Department of Public Health: California Tobacco Control Branch - Yearly California Tobacco Facts and Figures reports.

CA Department of Public Health: Occupational Health Branch -Statistics related to worker health in CA.

Data Center, Kids Count: Health Statistics - California health profile of child well-being.


San Diego

Community Health Statistics - Health & Human Services Agency provides health statistics that describe health behaviors, diseases, and injuries for specific populations, in addition to  health trends and comparisons to national targets.

Census Bureau: San Diego City Quick Facts - Quick Facts collects some demographic data for a given area.

SD County Medical Examiner: Statistics - Reports on causes of death in the county.

 

 

America's Health Rankings - United Health Foundation, America's Health Rankings.

CDC Data & Statistics by Topic - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - The CDC's weekly report on illnesses and accidents compiled from U.S. departments of health.

Collection of Biostatistics Research Archive (COBRA) - Scholar-driven repository of biostatistic working papers.

FastStats - Provides quick access to statistics on topics of public health importance and is organized alphabetically.

Gapminder USA - Compare the US states against each other.

Health, United States - an annual report on trends in health statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

National Cancer Institute Statistics - Find the latest topical reports, interactive maps and graphs, and cancer statistics by cancer type, geographic area, and demographic subgroups.

National Transportation Statistics -  Prepared by Research and Special Programs Administration, Transportation Systems Center, Transportation Information Division, Statistical Information Reporting Branch.

Partners in Information Access for in Public Health Workforce - Provides data about public health workforce

Pew Research: Health Topics- A nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.

State Cancer Profiles - Quick and easy access to descriptive cancer statistics.

State Health Facts - State Health Facts is a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data for all 50 states.

State Snapshots - State Snapshots, compiled by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, provide State-specific health care quality information, including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. The goal is to help State officials and their public and private-sector partners better understand health care quality and disparities in their State. 

     

 

Find Articles

Learn to Search

Use NavigatorSearch

Use Subject-Specific Databases

Use Books

Use Suggested Books

 


Find More Books

Want more books? Search the library's NavigatorSearch by topic and then use the "source type" filter to narrow to only books: 

Find Public Health Advocacy Policies

 

 

Created and hosted by CQ Press, the CQ Press Electronic Library (CQEL) is the definitive reference resource for research in American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs.

Public Policy Institute of California
Independent, objective, nonpartisan research on major social, economic, and political issues.

National Conference of State Legislatures State Websites Directory
Connect to individual state legislatures for bills being considered in other states.

Government Resources

Congress.gov 
Provides legislative information from the Library of Congress. Here you'll find summaries and status of bills before Congress. You can also find the text and summaries of proposed legislation, as well the actions already taken on the policy.

GovTrack.us
An independent website that makes it easy to look for bills before the current Congress.

 

Think tanks can be a great resource for research and statistics on a variety of topics, but think tanks are advocacy oriented. That a think tank refers to itself as non-partisan means that it has no formal connection to a political party, not that it doesn’t have an ideological orientation that may be more consistent with a given political party.

Policy Archive
Policy Archive is a good source for finding materials from various think tanks, including many of the ones mentioned here.

FAIR
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting categorizes the political leanings of 25 leading think tanks, and analyzes who is the most influential.
 

Newspapers can be helpful sources of current information about new policies. Editorials and the Op-Ed pages are particularly good places to look, because they are spaces in which people write about problems and how they might be solved.

Once you have identified a specific organization that works on your issue, you will have to go that organization's website and do some digging. Good places to look will be links to press releases about specific legislation that the organization supports. 

Remember that these press releases are NOT policies.  You will need the actual text of the actual policy. After reading a press release and identifying a current piece of legislation, you will have to go to the website of the governmental body that is considering this legislation.

Support your argument with statistics. Use FedStats or Statistical Abstracts of the United States to find raw statistics and make your own graphs or charts to show trends.

Look in newspapers, AP Images, or other resources to find graphs and charts created by others.

For more Public Health Resources in Statistics & Epidemiology, please visit our Community Health Guide

 

 

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