Supporting facts, not just an opinion

One of my assignments this week is to prepare a presentation on strategic planning, in collaboration with another medical practice executive. While putting this presentation together I have once again been impressed by the tools available through the internet. When talking to a group, I care about having my facts supported and empirical evidence brought forward in the material. If I am presenting an opinion I try to make that clear. There are many resources to help in this process. I want to share a few to help with your next project.

When I was in graduate school I had access to the school library, a compilation of databases with a PDF of the original articles. This was a fast and easy  way to find lot of articles. Not all of the articles were relevant, so it takes some work to get the query refined to what you want. The school librarians are genius at this type of problem. As an alumni I still have access to the library, but in a smaller number of databases. Helpful, but not as robust.

My national professional association has a set of databases available to members. When I am logged onto the website I can execute a search and the database portal becomes available. Like with the graduate school library the query provides a PDF of the article available for download. One trick I learned is the use of Google Scholar. It is available in the “more” and then “even more” category on Google. You can search through Google Scholar to find academic articles and you can set your preferences to the libraries and databases where you have access. Google Scholar will let you know in the query if your library has the source. Very helpful and uses the power of Google.

Another amazing resource is WorldCat on the Internet. (www.worldcat.org) This library catalog will search for books and articles, letting you know where they are available. Through your community library and affiliated systems you can request articles and books. I found this especially helpful when I was tracking down an original source. Though my community library the books were requested from college libraries from around the state and sent to my local library. There is a little time in the delivery, but the convenience and cost can’t be better.

If you have other ways of finding facts, let me know.