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How to find literature- A very short introduction

SMED 8004 Medicine and Health Library

October 2014

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Sources for evidence based research Primary literature

– articles concerning ONE study

Secondary literature (When available search for them!)- ”Research on research”- E.g: Systematic reviews

= «All» studies about the same question found, evaluated and reviewed.

Large amounts of information can be assimilated quickly by health care providersFrom: How to read a paper : the basics of evidence-based medicine / Trisha Greenhalgh, 2010, (p115)

Delay between research discoveries and implementation of effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies is reduced

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Searching for information = Search strategy + Search technique

Information literacy ?

Which databases?

Which search words?

Combination of search words?(search profile)

Databases have different user interfaces og search functions

(Check help-funktion/guides)

There are many more than we show in this presentation!!

Result – I want the best weight of precicion and recall (for my use)

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How to search – the work process:

There is an increasing demand for you to document your literature search when you want to publish a scientific article.

You should have a clearly defined searchable research question

You should work systematically and structured when you search

You should consider the aim of your search and time available to search

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Search Technique; Top Tips

• Use keywords/thesaurus e.g MESH• Use search history to combine searches• Limits: Language, year, type of material e.g book…• Define search fields e.g author, article title…• Truncate: search for different word endings (often *) • Phrase search: write ”quotes around words”• Remember synonymes• Use more than one source• Citation tracking/searching

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Use NOT with care!

From the homepage of Durham University Library

Use to combine search words

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ntnu.edu/ub/subject/ethicsORAbout NTNU» NTNU University Library» Subject Areas» Applied ethics

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Largest and much used database in medicine/biomedicineReferences and abstracts from scientific journals (5600 journals covered)The free version of Medline

Link to fulltext or article-ordering =

Find systematic reviews and clinical studies easy

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Google Scholar = «Scientific Google»Scientific articles, conferences, Google books…

Searches full text (publishers, universities, open access..)What is much cited ranks high on the «hit-list»

Not very advanced search optionsSearch for one known reference/article works very well

Has citations / citation trackingNo quality control

Link to full text/ordering = NTNU

See also: Web of science and Scopus

Good source for interdisciplinaryissues

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Scopus - interdisciplinary reference-database.”Who sites who”21000 journals, conference proceedings Link to fulltext or article-ordering =

Measure journal impact (see «Analytics»)

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Web of science - interdisciplinary reference-database.”Who sites who”13000 journals, conference proceedings Link to fulltext or article-ordering =

Measure journal impact factor = Journal citation reports

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Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Google ScholarWhy?

•multidisciplinary

•Finding the original work(s) on which an idea or research is based

•Finding reactions to a work

•Finding studies that are closely related

•Following up developments in a field

•Identifying emerging research areas

•Finding the impact of one author’s work on other’s work

•Finding background information

•Finding grey literature

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How to find information : a guide for researchers / Sally Rumsey, 2008

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How to stay up to date?

in : Create a personal area with your own password

-Email alerts will notify you of new articles matching saved searches

Also possible:

-Store references on PubMed.

-Store filters that will automatically group your search results.

-Check your PubMed activity in the last six months.

Check the Pubmed guide on our homepage Similar tools are also available in other databases

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Further reading (E- books on medical information):

•T Greenhalgh 2010, How to read a paper; the basics of evidence-based medicine

•George M Hall 2013 , How to write a paper •Getting your research paper published : a surgical perspective / edited by Mohit Bhandari, 2011.

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