As a Medical Degree student at the University of Portsmouth you have access to all your recommended reading via the Kings College London Keats learning platform.
However, you are also able to access the resources provided by the University of Portsmouth Library. The University of Portsmouth Library purchases subscriptions to high-quality online resources for our students and staff to support your assignments, projects and dissertations.
Download the University VPN system to access these resources anytime, anywhere!
Getting started
It is important to understand the kind of information you need when researching for your assignment. For example you may want to start by finding definitions or background information. Alternatively you may be seeking statistics or research findings. This website's Information Literacy pages will give you some guidance on this.
You may also want to consider the pros and cons of using AI in your research. Check the AI Literacy pages for guidance on this.
To find print books:
- Search the Library Catalogue (second search box on the page)
- Filter your search on the left hand side to 'print books'
- For each book, note the floor, number and author code eg FIRST FLOOR 507.2/MAR
To find ebooks:
- Search the Library Catalogue (second search box on the page)
- Filter your search on the left hand side to 'Electronic Books'.
- Click on the title of the ebook to load the full record, and then 'Online access' to view.
Getting more help:
More about using the Library Catalogue
Video on finding books in the Library
Information about our click and collect service and postal loans for UK based Distance Learners
Breaking your topic into concepts
It can be tempting to put your whole assignment title into a database when you are searching for information, but if you do that the database will not give you focused results, and you may end up with a large number of irrelevant results.
To improve your search start by taking your topic title and pulling out your key terms, or concepts.
Considering alternative keywords
When you have broken your topic down into concepts, you can start thinking more carefully about the vocabulary.
- Including alternative keywords will help you to broaden your search if you are not finding very much information on your topic.
- Changing your keywords to specialised terminology will help you to narrow your search and make it more subject specific if you are finding too much information.
The Alternative keywords video explains the process in more detail.
Applying search techniques
When you have selected the alternative keywords for your search strategy, it is time to apply some search techniques to those keywords. The Applying Search Techniques video explains more about using “phrase searching” and truncation.
Running your search
These techniques can be used across different databases. Our biggest database is the Ebsco Discovery Service. You can find further information on using the limiters and filters to narrow your search results in the Discovery Service here: Using the Discovery Service | Library | University of Portsmouth
A PRISMA Flow Diagram can be used as part of your search strategy to map out the number of records identified, included and excluded, and the reasons for exclusions. You can download a PRISMA diagram template here.
Explore our study skills resources below or contact the Science and Health Learning Support tutors for help on developing your study skills via their webpage Student Support Teams | Faculty of Science and Health
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Access books and videos about quantitative and qualitative research methods and many more social science research topics. Use the Tools drop-down at the top centre of the screen to access a handy Project Planner which is full of FAQs about what you need to consider at each stage in a project/dissertation. Tools also contains a Methods Map which is ideal for quickly finding details about a particular research method.
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Online learning and training courses covering business and employability, as well as creative and technical skills.
Ebook collections
Please note - any notes and highlighting you make in an ebook from Kings College London will not appear in the University of Portsmouth subscription copy.
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A collection of key pharmacy and medical textbooks. Make sure to register as a student on this platform.
Includes:
- Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology
- Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine
- Mims' Medical Microbiology and Immunology
- Rang & Dale's Pharmacology
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Ebook Central
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Access around 200,000 ebooks across all subject areas.
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Medicines Complete
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Medicines Complete is an online platform with access to medical ebooks.
Includes:
- British national formulary
- British national formulary for Children
- Pharmaceutical excipients
- Stockley's drug interactions
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Science Trove
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)The University Library's Science Trove subscription is a collection of Biomedical Science e-textbooks from Oxford University Press.
Includes:
- Clinical Biochemistry FBMS
- Medical Microbiology
- Clinical Immunology FBMS
- Haematology FBMS
- Histopathology FBMS
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Credo Reference
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Explore Credo for trusted reference sources like dictionaries - a great alternative to Wikipedia!
Watch these short videos to get started:
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Blacks Medical Dictionary
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)A reference for all who need clear explanation of medical terms.
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Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)A concise, up-to-date guide to the essential language of medicine. Covers the latest brand names and generic equivalents of common drugs.
Databases and websites
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BioMed Central
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)BioMed Central is the largest open access publisher in the world, publishing over 200 peer-reviewed open access journals across the fields of biology, chemistry and medicine.
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CINAHL
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)CINAHL (the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) contains journal article abstracts with links to the full-text where available. Locate articles from the nursing and allied health subjects
This database is available to search on its own from the link above, plus you will find CINAHL results when searching Discovery
Help pages available
Using CINAHL/MeSH Subject Headings
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The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making and is the leading source to support evidence based practice. Locate systematic reviews, clinical trials and find abstracts of economic evaluations of health care interventions.
Help pages available
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A variant of Google that searches for academic literature. Provides access to articles, books, conference papers and preprints. Links to Full-text @ Portsmouth on campus or when using the VPN.
A Library Guide to this resource is available
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Medline
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Locate articles from a large range of medical journals. Subjects covered include medicine, pharmacy, allied health, and pre-clinical sciences. Plus life sciences, including some aspects of biology, marine biology, plant and animal science as well as biophysics and chemistry. Contains journal article abstracts with links to the full-text where available.
This database is available to search on its own from the link above, plus you will find Medline results when searching Discovery.
How to search using MeSH (Medical Subject Headings)
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NIHR Journals Library
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)The NIHR (National Institute of Health Research) Journals Library provides full publication and open access to an extensive body of health research. It comprises a suite of six programme-specific journal series, published online, which are fully searchable and provide a comprehensive record of work funded by these NIHR programmes.
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PubMed comprises millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher websites
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Science Direct
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Access 1000s of Elsvier articles and book chapters from our subscribed content on scientific, technical, and medical research.
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Large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature covering all subject areas.
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Part of Web of Knowledge, includes records for thousands of scholarly publications. Search across three main citation databases (Science/Social Science/Arts & Humanities).
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The BMA represents, supports and negotiates on behalf of all UK doctors and medical students. They are member-run and led, fighting for the best terms and conditions as well as lobbying and campaigning on the issues impacting the medical profession.
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The Department for Health and Social Care support ministers in leading the nation’s health and social care to help people live more independent, healthier lives for longer.
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Health Talk Online
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Healthtalkonline lets you share in other people's experiences of health and illness. You can watch or listen to videos of the interviews, read about people's experiences and find reliable information about conditions, treatment choices and support.
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The King's Fund is an independent charitable organisation providing independent insight and analysis of health and care in England. This website includes reports, explainers, videos, data and charts.
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Founded in 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations agency dedicated to global health and safety. The Organization connects nations, partners and communities to promote health and serve the vulnerable. WHO works with its Member States to achieve the highest level of health for all people by pursuing universal health coverage.
This website is useful for data, health news and disease outbreak response information.
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Information related to health and social care. Includes Health Survey for England, NHS Quarterly Review, national health indicators and hospital activity statistics.
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Health Profiles provide a snapshot overview of health for each local authority in England.
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Access to more than a million statistics from many different sources. Useful for finding industrial, economic and consumer market statistical trends.
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Statistics on public health topics
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UK National Statistics: Publication Hub
(Searchable in EBSCO Discovery)Official statistics from the UK Government.
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PressReader lets you access UK and international newspapers, plus a wide range of magazine content. Everything is full colour with archives varying in length depending on the publication.
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Full text articles from UK and international news sources - coverage varies but can run from the 1980s to today. As well as newspapers, you'll find news wires and BBC Monitoring reports.
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An archive of UK television and radio programmes from free to air channels (1998 onwards). For use in the UK only. Find some great tips about how to use BoB in these short videos.
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A unique collections of films including award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases on every topic imaginable. Content can be searched or browsed.
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Visible Body is a 3D human body reference and study tool. Explore general anatomy, functional units, cross sections, muscle attachments, bony landmarks, muscle actions and more.
To access this resource:
- You must register for an account either on campus using a university PC or the University wifi, or if off campus register using the VPN.
- Sign up with your University email address.
- Once registered you can use your account to login off campus.
- You must login on campus or via VPN every 150 days to revalidate your account.