Background Questions (Overview)
Develop your understanding of a topic before diving into research
Resources used to answer background questions are not what would be used in literature reviews or answering foreground research questions but to help fill out the beginning researcher's knowledge. Essentially, these would NOT be your references, but great places to fill in your knowledge gaps on a topic. Primary goals of these resources are to:
- gain insight and introductory knowledge on topics you may be unfamiliar with
- identify key terms and vocabulary associated with a topic you’re investigating
- connect you with additional readings/information sources on your topic
These are subdivided into four major categories:
- Point of Care Resources - Designed for busy clinicians to get a quick overview of a disease.
- Narrative Review Articles - Condensed and like a book chapter on a very specific topic, this is expert opinion (easy to identify because there are no methods).
- Book Chapters - Similar to narrative review articles, summarizes a topic.
- Quality Websites - Subject to the least scrutiny (like peer review), requires a savvy user to identify quality.
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Vetlexicon Clinical Reference This link opens in a new window Updated weekly, Vetlexicon is an online, point-of-care veterinary clinical reference source, currently covering dogs, cats, rabbits, exotics, cattle and horses. Content is provided in text, picture, video and audio formats; and submitted by leading veterinary clinicians with editorial board oversight and peer review. Additionally, the provided references may be cross-linked to PubMed or VetMedResource records. Also offers client handouts. Formerly known as Vetstream.
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Cornell consultant Diagnostic support system for veterinary medicine created by and maintained at Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine. Creates differential lists based on clinical signs or affected system.
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VINcyclopedia Formerly called Associate, this is a tool that allows the reader to find diseases by category or to use the “Diseases to Consider Tool” by listing species and clinical signs or diagnostic results. VIN is free to veterinary students but requires registration.
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Merck Veterinary Manual This link opens in a new window Information on the health problems affecting animals, including diseases, disorders, management issues, and other concerns faced by animal health professionals. In addition to text, figures, images, and multimedia content, it includes news, case studies and quiz sections as well as clinical calculators and topics for pet owners (Pet Health tab).
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Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult
by
Want access to this book online? The full book content is also available as part of VetConsult, an online subscription platform with a powerful search function. Find out more at www.wiley.com/learn/vetconsult and subscribe today at https://vetconsult.wiley.com/subscription. THE VERY LATEST INFORMATION ON DISEASES AND CLINICAL PROBLEMS IN DOGS AND CATS Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Canine and Feline, 7th Edition provides up-to-date information on feline and canine disease in the familiar, popular, and trusted 5-Minute Veterinary Consult format. This reference puts all the necessary information regarding common diseases and conditions in dogs and cats at the reader's fingertips. Covering 845 specific disorders, Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult is the most comprehensive and timely reference on canine and feline medicine available today. It is carefully designed for fast and easy access to vital and accurate information. The companion website allows the reader to access more than 350 downloadable client education handouts, as well as images and video clips. The book makes it easy to find essential details on: 845 different diseases and conditions, from amebiasis to zinc toxicosis Diagnosis Common treatments and prognoses Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Canine and Feline is the leading quick-access reference for veterinary practitioners and students everywhere. Recent editions of avian, exotics, lab procedures and ECC available, too.
Publication Date: 2021
Point of Care tools are for quick reference for busy clinicians, for more, watch this video:
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PubMed for UC Davis This link opens in a new windowUse PubMed to find narrative review articles by clicking "review" for article type on filters to the left. You can change your organization to most recent versus best match.
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Scopus This link opens in a new windowUnder Document Type on the left, choose "review". You can also sort your order from recent to highest impact (older articles, by nature, have higher impact)
Finding narrative review articles: In Scopus or PubMed, you can click the "review" box under study type to limit results to narrative reviews (see video below). Narrative reviews are different than Systematic or Scoping Reviews because they have no methods (expert opinion).
Two Approaches
- Select UC Davis Library Only on the homepage catalog search, or select UC Davis library on the advanced search and search under a broad category like - veterinary AND gastroenterol* . Then choose a book and under "contents", identify a relevant chapter.
OR
- Don't select UC Davis Library Only on the homepage catalog search, or select UC Libraries + Online Articles on Advanced search and search for your specific topic, like "exocrine pancreatic insufficiency" AND (dog OR dogs OR canine). Identify the filter on the left titled Resource Type. Select Book Chapters and select Apply Filters (see image below):
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UC Davis Library Catalog: Advanced Search
Search UC Library Search for books, journals (not articles) and other materials available online or in the library.
Websites are not under peer review, choosing a quality site can be challenging. Lateral reading is an approach to critically review a websites claims by seeing what other sources and websites say about the website in question. This is an instructional video from Arizona State University that sums this up: