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Occupational Therapy

Welcome to the Occupational Therapy Research Guide

Welcome to the WCU Center for Graduate Studies Library guide to Occupational Therapy for MSOT and OTD students.

Guides for research outside of the field of occupational therapy are covered in the other WCU Library research guides.

  • To find the research guide that covers a library topic, use the search box in the upper right corner of this page.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

  • To get quick answers to the top 100 Frequently Asked Questions about the library and library research, click the FAQs icon in the "Have a Question?" subpage.
  • Explore the Research Basics research guide to review the library skills that all college students should know.

Start with a quick orientation to the essential skills in the boxes below:

  • Signing in to the Library catalog and databases with your Library ID and password.
  • How to format and organize your research papers.
  • Library Skills Videos (only about 5 minutes each)

For more detailed tutorials, click the rectangular tabs to the left.

  • Finding information on a particular subject.
  • Finding articles when you know the exact title.
  • Obtaining the full text of an article through interlibrary loan.
  • How to organize and cite your research
  • How to find articles and stay current in your field after graduation

Your librarians are still on duty online during the COVID-19 outbreak. See the Continuity of Library Services research guide.

Library ID and Password

Always start your search from the University Library page on the WCU website or from a database link on one of these Research Guides. (Don't try to sign in from a database or journal publisher's website.)

When you click My Library Account or View Full Text or a database (from the A-Z Database List or WCU Occupational Therapy Library Resources on Canvas), you will be prompted to enter your Library ID and Password.

What's my Library ID?     Your Library ID or Username is the start of your WCU email address before the @ sign.

What's my Password?     The Library does not set your password for you.  You must click the "Set/reset password" link below the Password box to set your password, or to reset your password if you forgot it.

Formatting Your Research Papers

The Occupational Therapy program requires all papers to follow the American Psychological Association 7th Edition Manual of Style.  For a summary of the rules for formatting your paper, citations and references, see the APA Help (7th Edition) Research Guide.  You should purchase your own copy of the APA Manual of Style (7th Edition) since it is not available online. More examples of citations can be found on the APA Style website using the search box (click the magnifying glass icon).

The WCU Library webinar series is offered each term; check the schedule and register to watch 45 minute lectures APA Overview, APA Part 1, and APA Part 2.

RefWorks is an online tool used to store, organize, and cite your sources for research papers, and it can work with your word processor to automatically format your inline citations and bibliography from your list of sources. The RefWorks YouTube channel from ProQuest has a series of video tutorials.

 

Library Skills Videos