Patricia A. Piermatti
and
Jackie Mardikian
Pharmaceutical Sciences Librarian
mardikia@rci.rutgers.edu
December 19, 2007

Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Pharmaceutical Sciences:
Bibliographic Guide to Rutgers Resources in Alternative/Complementary/Herbal Medicine

Conducting Your Library Research

Choose a topic
Identify keywords to describe the topic
Boolean Searching

Find Books
Find Periodical Articles (i.e. magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters)
Find Multimedia
Understanding Library Terminology

I. Conducting Your Library Research

a. Choose a Topic

Depending upon the purpose of your library visit, you may have the need to select a topic for the research you will do. What topic you choose will be dependent upon the class assignment, laboratory report, grant application, term paper or group presentation you are preparing. Searchpath a new Libraries service, is an interactive online tutorial about finding and using worthwhile information sources in the libraries and on the Web. Searchpath will help students save time, produce higher quality research, and get higher grades. Module 2 - "Choosing a Topic" is recommended.

b. Identify Keywords

Try to restate your topic as a question. For example, "What are phytochemicals and in what foods are they found?" A quick parsing of this question would yield:

phytochemicals
herb OR medicinal

You would then need to locate background and in-depth information on phytochemicals and types of food to expand your keyword listing.

c. Boolean Searching

The reader can plan a research strategy by utilizing the basic principles of Boolean Searching.

Combining Words and Fields

Search terms can be combined and refined through the use of operators. Operators are single words that are inserted between keywords.

Choices of operators are: AND, OR, NOT, and XOR; examples of each are listed below. Examples of additional search operators: SAME, WITH, NEAR, and ADJ are also given.

AND
means that both (or all) terms must be present; its use usually narrows a search.
EXAMPLE: phytochemicals and broccoli

OR
means that either (or any) terms must be present; its use broadens a search.
EXAMPLE: phytochemicals or phytonutrients

NOT
means a term is excluded from a search; its use narrows a search.
EXAMPLE: vegetables not scallions

XOR
means that either one or the other search term must be present but not both; its use narrows a search.

EXAMPLE: isoflavones xor lycopene

SAME
means that the terms you enter must all appear in the same field of a record (author, title, etc.).
EXAMPLE: lycopene same tomatoes

WITH
means that the terms you enter must all appear in the same sentence within the same field of a record.
EXAMPLE: gone with wind

NEAR
means that the terms you enter must be adjacent to each other but may be in any order.
EXAMPLE: computer near network

ADJ
means that the terms you enter must be adjacent to each other in the same order you enter.
EXAMPLE: ellagic adj acid

II. Find Books

Locating books with information about alternative, complementary or herbal medicine is facilitated by use of IRIS, the Rutgers University Libraries online catalog. Through IRIS, you can identify materials owned by the Rutgers libraries located in New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark. IRIS indicates which libraries own an item and whether an item is in the library, checked out, on reserve, or on order. The Rutgers law libraries maintain their own online catalogs ... Rutgers Camden-Law Library Catalog and Rutgers Law School, Newark-Law Library Catalog.

Further information on locating books is available on the How do I ... find a book? page.

Some suggested Library of Congress SUBJECT HEADINGS to use when searching IRIS are:

Botany, Economic
Botany, Medical
Ethnobotany
Herbs -- Therapeutic Use
Materia Medica, Vegetable
Materia Medica and Therapeutics
Pharmacognosy
Plants in the Bible
Plants, Medicinal

Short Bibliography

Dictionaries

Hocking, George Macdonald. A Dictionary of Natural Products: Terms in the Field of Pharmacognosy Relating to Natural Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Materials and the Plants ... 2nd edition. Medford, NJ: Plexus Publications, 1997.
LSM REF/QK 99.H69 1997.

Torkelson, Anthony R. The Cross Name Index to Medicinal Plants in four volumes. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1996.
LSM REF/QK 99.A1 T65 1996/V 1-4.

Basic Texts

Evans, William Charles. Trease and Evans' Pharmacognosy, 15th edition. Edinburgh, Scotland; New York, NY: W.B. Saunders, 2002.
LSM REF/RS 160.T75 2002 (on order).

Foster, Steven. Tyler's Honest Herbal: A Sensible Guide to the Use of Herbs and Related Remedies, 4th edition . Binghamton, NY: Haworth Herbal Press, 1998.
LSM/ RM 666.H33T94 1998.

Grieve, Maud. A Modern Herbal: The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-Lore of Herbs. New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1982.
LSM REF/QK 9.G7 1982/V 1-2.

Li, Thomas S.C. Chinese and Related North American Herbs: Phytopharmaceutical and Therapeutic Values. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2002.
LSM REF/RS 164.L5645 2002.

Longe, Jacqueline L. project editor. The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, 2nd edition. Detroit, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.
LSM/ REF/ R733.G34 2005 V 1-4.

Robbers, James E. and Varro E. Tyler. Tyler's Herbs of Choice: The Therapeutic Use of Phytomedicinals. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 1999.
LSM REF/ RM 666.H33R6 1999.

Wichtl, Max editor. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals: A Handbook for Practice on a Scientific Basis, 3rd expanded and completely revised edition. Stuttgart, Germany: Medpharm; Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2004.
LSM/ REF/ RM 666.H33 T43813 2004.

Handbooks

Blumenthal, Mark, senior editor. The Complete German Commission E Monographs: Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines ... Austin, TX: American Botanical Council, 1998.
LSM REF/RM 666.H33 T445 1998.

Duke, James A. CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs. Boca Raton, FL; London: CRC Press, 2001.
LSM REF/QK 99.A1 D83 2001.

Duke, James A. Handbook of Biologically Active Phytochemicals and Their Activities. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1992.
LSM REF/RM 666.H33 D85 1992.

ESCOP Monographs: the Scientific Foundation for Herbal Medicinal Products, 2nd edition. Exeter, England: ESCOP; Stuttgart, Germany: Georg Thieme; New York: Thieme New York, 2003.
LSM REF/RS 164.E83 2003.

Facts & Comparisons 4.0 (including Review of Natural Products). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health, 2001- .

Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States Southeastern, PA: Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States, 2006 - .
Not Owned

The print version of the Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States ceased publication in December 2005. Information about the HPUS online database is located here.

Jaksch, Mingfu Wang and Mark Roman. Handbook of Analytical Methods for Dietary Supplements. Washington, DC: American Pharmacists Association, 2005.
LSM REF/RM 258.5.J34 2005.

Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. Stockton, CA: Therapeutic Research Faculty.

PDR For Herbal Medicines, 3rd edition. Montvale, NJ: Thomson PDR, 2004.
LSM REF/RM 666.H33 P37 2004.

This title is the "closest analog to FDA-approved labeling of the findings of the German Regulatory Authority's herbal watchdog agency, commonly called 'Commission E.'" ... PDR for Herbal Medicines "has augmented this compendium with the results of an exhaustive literature review conducted by the respected PhytoPharm U.S. Institute of Phytopharmaceuticals under the direction of noted botanist, Dr. Joerg Gruenwald ...."

Paterson, Wilma. A Fountain of Gardens: Plants and Herbs of the Bible. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1992.
LSM REF/BS 665.P38 1992.

European Pharmacopoeia, 6th edition. Saint-Ruffine, France: Maisonneuve, 2007 - .
LSM RESERVE/ RS 141.28.E8 Ed 6 V1-2

Herbal Remedies, 5th edition. Stuttgart, Germany: Medpharm Scientific Publishers, 2003.
LSM REF COM/ RM 666.H33H4813 2003; located on LSM Reference Workstation A.

III. Find Periodical Articles

(i.e. magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters)

Information on finding articles is available on the Rutgers University Libraries How do I ... find an article on my topic? web page.

Searchpath a new Libraries service, is an interactive online tutorial about finding and using worthwhile information sources in the libraries and on the Web. Searchpath will help students save time, produce higher quality research, and get higher grades; Module 4 - "Finding Articles" is recommended.

The alphabetized list of Rutgers University Libraries indexes and databases provides additional networked databases for doing your research on herbal plants. Alphabetized listings of Rutgers University Libraries electronic journals (ejournals) is found here.

A listing of electronic journals (ejournals) in the pharmaceutical sciences.

Another tool for searching the herbal or alternative medicine literature is Google Scholar. Google Scholar is a free database and provides access to many full-text articles including those subscribed by Rutgers University Libraries.

Further assistance is available through a suite of web pages developed by the Rutgers University Libraries for the Rutgers Online program.

IV. Find Multimedia

Use IRIS to locate multimedia (computer files, records, films, etc). Select the "Advanced Search" option on the initial IRIS screen. Type your keyword(s) in the "words anywhere" box; then select the desired"format:" from the pull-down menu:

computer files
printed music
recorded sound
visual materials

V. Understanding Library Terminology

While doing research in a library, you will often have to deal with library jargon/terminology. Try the Information Professional's Glossary (School of Information Resources & Library Science, University of Arizona; or ODLIS - Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science by Joan M. Reitz.