Occupational Therapy

Guide to research in the area of occupational therapy. Also helpful for the areas of physical therapy, nursing, health, physiology and kinesiology.

Find Books in Different Places

Search for Electronic & Hardcopy Books

  1. First: Try broad search words relating to your topic.
    Example: genetically modified food 
  2. Try a new search. Add words to narrow your search. 
    Examples: nutrition | legislation | controversy | small farms | hunger | safety | labeling | pest resistance

Example searches: 

  • genetically modified food labeling
  • genetically modified food safety
  • genetically modified food hunger
  1. Brainstorm synonyms or related terms for search words
    Example: hunger- food supply, food security, famine, malnutrition

Example searches:

  • genetically modified food famine
  • genetically modified hunger
  • genetically modified food malnutrition
  1. Finally, refine your results by source type =  "books" 
    Note: You can request that books be sent to the Kent, Enumclaw or Auburn SBAC campuses from the Holman Library)

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Browse the Shelves

Find information on your topic by browsing the library's collection
  1. Health Science books are physically grouped together by "call number" on the library shelves through the "Dewey Decimal Classification" system.
  2. If you'd like, ask a librarian to help you locate the books
  3. Open books and skim through the chapter headings to see if one relates to your topic.

 610-619 MEDICAL SCIENCES

610 Medicine
    610.73 Nursing
611 Human Anatomy, Cytology, Histology
612 Human physiology
    612.76 Kinesiology
613 Promotion of health
614 Incidence & prevention of disease
615 Pharmacology & therapeutics    
    615.82 Physical Therapy
    615.8515 Occupational Therapy 
616 Diseases
617 Surgery & related medical specialities
    617.1027 Sports Medicine
618 Gynecology & other medical specialities
619 Experimental medicine

Also see:
174.2 Medical Ethics

Interlibrary Loans

Get books and articles from other libraries
  1. Click on the link above. Enter search words to find books that are owned by libraries across the United States
  2. Note down the author, title, publisher, publication date and ISBN number of the book
  3. Make an Interlibrary Loan Request using the following link so that the book can be sent to Green River's Holman Library for you to borrow:

Note: This process may take one week, so plan ahead!

4. Click to see an example of how to make a request:

Google Books

Find previews and chapters of books
  1. Search Google Books to find full text or partial text of books online
  2. Choose books that indicate "Preview" You may not see the entire text of the book, but many of the chapters may be included. You can often find great information in these chapters.  You can also limit by publication date.

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image showing search strategies for Google Books

  1. Are there pages missing from your preview that you would like to read?  Make an Interlibrary Loan Request using the following link so that the book can be sent to Green River's Holman Library for you to borrow. Note: This process may take one week
  1. To see an example of how to make a request, click below

OT Research Worksheet

Try It!

Choose one scenario below and practice constructing a search from that scenario:

  1. What are some occupational therapy considerations for children with autism?
  2. How might occupational therapists help with the physical impairments that patients of traumatic brain injury face?
  3. What should occupational therapists be aware of when treating veterans with PTSD?
  4. Create your own scenario!

Selected Electronic and Print Books

Subjects: Health Sciences