PH 120: Health Policies for Healthy Lifestyles: Home

This guide is designed to help you navigate Library-licensed and open access research sources beyond what you might easily find in UC Library Search.

• Use the front page to find quick links to frequently requested resources and tools.
• Explore the tabs on the left to find curated links to specialized resources for different subfields, methodologies, and research questions.

If you are located on-campus, make sure that you are connected to the UCSD-Protected wifi.

If you are located off-campus, start by setting up VPN AnyConnect on your device.

The UC San Diego Health and Health Science VPN also provides off campus access to resources the Library provides. Instructions and assistance for UC San Diego Health and Health Science VPN users can be found in the Pulse intranet.

Open the slides in speakers notes view or listen to the audio.

Open the slides in speakers notes view or listen to the audio.

The TL;DR

First, search for secondary sources that summarize key policies related to your topic. Briefs, reports, and other publications written by government agencies, advocacy organizations, and/or aimed at policymakers can be particularly useful. Legal encyclopedias, law review articles, scholarly articles, books, and news articles are all also useful.

Second, using the citations to legal/policy primary sources listed or mentioned in your secondary sources, locate the primary sources themselves. Different databases and websites contain different content, so pay attention to:

• Jurisdiction: Is it a federal, state, or local policy, or are you comparing across multiple locations?
• Branch of government and type of law/policy: Is it legislation, a rule/regulation, or caselaw? 
• Whether the law/policy is proposed (e.g., bill, proposed regulation, case in progress), enacted/finalized (e.g., public law/chapter, final regulation, published court opinion), and/or codified (e.g., citation to the US Code, Code of Federal Regulations, etc.).