Research Tools and Assistance

Not just search tools!

Human Help with Mental Health Research

Human assisted research.

U of Mich Helpline

MH and Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive, ICPSR, University of Michigan

Toll Free Helpline: 1-888-741-7242

Specialized Search Resources and Metastudies

The Cochrane Library (Cochrane Reviews)

Search here for reviews of the evidence base for mental health care.

Tip: Search a subject in a search engine and include, in quotes, "Cochrane Reviews". to bring up additional sites that have related resources and commentary.

"The aims of The Cochrane Collaboration are "preparing, maintaining and disseminating systematic reviews of the effects of health care". Before one can prepare a systematic review, one has to find the relevant research reports; in the case of The Cochrane Collaboration, this usually means reports of randomised clinical trials. This can be surprisingly difficult. Cochrane review authors rely on several means of searching for relevant reports, including both electronic and manual methods. For complete identification of published reports, there appears to be no alternative to a page-by-page search of the literature." (11/10)

Summaries of Cochrane reviews - Mental Health (Cochrane Reviews)

This is an excellent starting place, especially if you want to see what Cochrane meta-studies are available.

For a specific topic, using the search box is a good idea.

"These summaries are based on new and updated systematic reviews published in The Cochrane Library…" (11/10)

 

Summaries of Subjects

Spark Notes

A large, free repository of summaries that provide well-organized information pertaining to college subjects. There is a psychology category with topics such as brain anatomy, personality, and memory. (1/05)

Tip: They won't put an advanced student on the cutting edge, but they will get the newcomer a great overview and help the intermediate person fill in the gaps or formulate new questions.

Runners Up, Contenders to Watch

MIT Open Courseware

Recommended reading, suggested resource links, course outline, and other materials. It normally does not contain a significant amount of text to read for educational purposes. The reading links typically go to abstracts or book listings, not full text.

Tip: You could end up empty-handed unless you have access to the recommended reading. The materials posted by the instructors may or may not have anything useful unless you're just looking to create a syllabus.