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Today,
more than ever before, those with access to the Web can do their own research
to learn more about current treatments, research in the field, advocacy movements,
legislative issues, and much more. Here, we provide information on using search
engines and directories, on locating research abstracts and articles, and on
connecting with others through listserv communities to help “do-it-yourself” researchers
get started on finding answers to all their important questions.
Internet Search Engines and Directories
Search engines and resource directories can help you continue your quest for
information on healthy development, developmental disorders, and related
topics.
To get started, the following two Web sites explain how to conduct a search
on the Internet:
How Search Engines Work
Web Searching, Sleuthing, and Sifting
Depending on what you’re searching for, the following medical search engines
and directories may expedite your search:
Center for the Study of Autism Links Page
Data Resource
Center (DRC) for Child and Adolescent Health
Finding information about psychological tests (PDF)
Harriet Lane Links (formerly Pediatric Points of Interest)
Indiana Resource Center for Autism
Ingenta
Kinderstart Search Engine
Loansome Doc (from the U.S. National Library of Medicine)
PubMed
National Library of Medicine
Locating Research Abstracts and Full Text Articles
The following article was published in the Winter 2001 premiere edition of
Advances Magazine, the member periodical of the Cure Autism Now Foundation.
To locate research abstracts, visit the National Library of Medicine’s
Pubmed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi. Use their simple search
engine by entering the topic or topics (e.g., “autism” or “autism
and genetics” ) to find abstracts about the subjects you are interested
in that have been published in scientific journals. You can also search by
entering an author’s name (e.g., Cook, E.). Each abstract also provides
you with a link to related articles. There are excellent tutorials on this
site with instructions for more advanced search techniques.
Some abstracts found on PubMed will provide you with a Web link directly to
the online full text version of the article within the site of the journal
where it is published. Some of these journals provide full text articles for
free, while others require a subscription or single use fee. You can gain free
access to some full text articles by visiting the Web site of the author. You
can order some articles at Northern Light, www.northernlight.com for a per
article fee. You can also order full text articles for a fee, from your local
medical school library, using the National Library of Medicine Loansome Doc
Ordering System at www.nlm.nih.gov/loansomedoc/loansome_home.html. There are
also private services that will send you the full text version of articles
by mail or fax, for a fee, such as the Medical Information Services at 1(800)999-1999
or the Uncover Company at
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/ or 1(800)787-7979.
Listserv Communities
A “listserv” (stands for List Server) is an automatic mailing list
distribution system. People sharing a common interest (e.g., professional,
educational, and special interest groups) may “subscribe” to a given
listserv. Depending on the service, listserv members either receive regular
mail from a single source or from all members who send email to the Listserver.
Other subscribers’ contributions to an e-mail “thread” (i.e., collective
e-mail responses to an e-mail post) are distributed to the entire subscriber
base via e-mail. The result is similar to a newsgroup or forum, except that
the messages are transmitted as e-mail and are therefore available only to
individuals on the list.
The following are popular listservs that serve the autism community:
Autism-Mercury Group at Yahoo.com
Biochemical Strategies in Autism
Boston Floortime Group
GFCGRecipes@yahoogroups.com
Metabolic or Mitochondrial Disease in Autism
St. John’s University
Autism and Developmental Disabilities
Talk Autism Communication Services
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