A Guide to Global Health and Epidemiology Research

The first step is to identify your information need. With health research, form an answerable health question. It will help you focus on finding credible information.

When formulating an answerable question, consider the context of your question by considering the following questions:

• Who is your audience: is it a population, or is it an individual, such as a patient?
• How is the information going to be used by a population or a patient?
• What is the health topic (is it looking at the prevention of a health condition, is it about the treatment of a health condition, etc.?)
• What resources should be consulted to answer the complexity of your question?

As a health practitioner you will have knowledge and access to credible resources your patient or population may ask about, such as evidence-based guidelines, systematic reviews or randomized controlled trials.  Librarian Tip: Library Article Resources are an excellent place to start. See them under Resources. 

The second step is to consider which resources to choose to search to answer your information need. Identify the value and differences of potential resources.  

The third step is searching Resources for a health question. 

The fourth step is evaluating search results in relation to a health question. 

NAU Librarians are available and can assist you by chat or email. You can schedule an individual research appointment.  We will reply to emails within 24 hours, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays or other closures).   View all hours.