Note:

Below you will find a few suggestions for searching this topic. These suggestions aren't the only way to find materials, but they may help to get you started.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

I. Find Background

Reference Sources:

II. Search the Library Catalog

To find scientific (psychiatric) texts, histories, and “popular” materials (written for non-specialists) along with some primary sources (memoirs, autobiographies) :

  1. Go to the library catalog
  2. Try entering one of these terms:  "chronic pulmonary obstructive disease", emphysema, "chronic bronchitis"
  3. For more precise searching, you can also Limit Your Search (left-hand menu) by Subject and more to see all the subheadings.Some promising subject headings: Respiratory organs > Diseases or Lungs > Diseases, Obstructive

Note: Other searches that hit at the primary cause of COPD and emphysema were: "Smoking Health aspects"  which leads to this subject heading: Passive smoking > Health aspects.

III. Find current Scholarly Journal Articles (secondary sources)

Databases:

  • PubMed
    A search for "chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder" returns over 40,000 articles. Yikes.
    Search tip: Select the Advanced Search
    Scroll down below the first search window. Where it says [All Fields], use the pull down menu to select [title] (near the bottom of the list).
    Enter: "chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder" and overview.
  • PsycInfo
    Suggested search terms to start: 
    chronic pulmonary obstructive disease OR emphysema OR bronchitis
    [and] history

IV. Find current “popular” (i.e. written for the general public, rather than for specialists) articles about chronic pulmonary obstructive disease

  • Proquest Research Library
    Try some of these search terms; COPD, "chronic pulmonary obstructive disease", emphysema, "chronic bronchitis"
    Place quotation marks around phrases;
    From the list of results, filter to Magazines; and select a time period;
    Under Publication Titles, select "more" to select specific magazines.

V. Finding historical news articles and popular magazine articles

Based on what you have already read about the history of this disease, are there other terms you may wish to use? Chronic cough? Shortness of breath? How was it described before given the name COPD?

  1. Select the Advanced Search
  2. Type in your search term -- (in quotation marks to search as a phrase)
  3. Scroll down to Source Type to select Articles (and, maybe, Advertisements? That could be interesting)
  4. In the left-hand column, adjust the date ranges, if desired.
  1. Select the Advanced Search
  2. Type in your search term (in quotation marks to search as a phrase)
  3. Scroll down to Source Type to select Articles
  4. Adjust the date ranges, if desired

VI. Find more articles about the history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

This will include some historical articles that may be considered primary sources (how the condition was understood at various points in history).Question! Was it called something else or described differently?