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Radiation Oncology

Direct comments to dkearney@nvcc.edu

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For individual research help, schedule an appointment to meet with a librarian.

Useful Links

Organizations and Associations

How to Evaluate Websites - Quick Tips

 

Evaluate websites that have information you would like to use in your assignments. 

Look on each website for an "About Us" page to answer some of the following questions:

  • Who is the author?        
  • What are his/her qualifications?
  • Why was the website created?
  • When was it last updated?
  • How reliable is the information?

Learn More About How to Evaluate Websites

Better Googling

Google logo with checkmark

(" breast cancer" OR " breast malignancy") AND radiotherapy site:.gov

203,000 results

 

 

Google logo with X mark

What radiotherapy do you use for breast cancer?

832,000 results


 

 

Here's how to craft a better search to get fewer and more relevant results:

  • Identify the main ideas in your research question.
          What radiotherapy methods do you use for breast cancer?
     
  • Connect the main ideas with AND.
          radiotherapy AND breast cancer
     
  • Use quotation marks around 2 or more words that need to be together.
          "radiation therapy" AND "breast cancer"
     
  • Use OR between synonyms/related terms.
          (radiotherapy OR "radiation therapy") AND cancer
     
  • Limit your search to a specific domain, such as .edu, .gov, or .org.
          (radiotherapy OR "radiation therapy") AND cancer site:.gov

More information on advanced Google searching and Google Scholar.

Wikipedia and Academic Research

    

How Wikipedia CAN be useful in the beginning stages of research:

Check mark A basic overview of your topic.
Check mark Important names, vocabulary and keywords related to your topic.
Check mark Table of contents for some entries, helping you to understand how your topic can be organized.
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References and other websites that may be helpful (though you will need to evaluate them to be sure).

Why NOT to use Wikipedia for academic research:

X  The accuracy and authority of a Wikipedia article cannot be verified.