Ch 6 - Searching the Literature

Question 1

What is Literature?

Answer 1

Include all scholarly products;
original research articles, editorials and position papers, reviews and meta-analyses, books and dissertations, conference proceedings and abstracts, and website materials

Question 2

Scientific journals

Answer 2

Peer reviewed journals
When searching for information in the health sciences

Question 3

Magazines

Answer 3

Periodicals with opinion pieces, news, info on policy, and reports of popular interest.
Used to present useful summaries of published studies/info to guide further searching

Question 4

Government and Professional Websites

Answer 4

Information from gov agencies, nongov. organizations, hospitals, advocacy org. and professional associations
Easily attainable
Need to double check to see if info can be trustful, coming from a LEGIT source

Question 5

Grey Literature

Answer 5

Not produced by a commercial publisher
Examples: Non-journal types (check slides)
Info about demographic statistics, preliminary data on new interventions and professional recommendations, and results of experimental, observational, and qualitative inquiries

Question 6

Publication Bias

Answer 6

Failing to publish results of a study with negative findings or findings of no significant differences

Question 7

What impact does excluding grey literature have on systematic reviews?

Answer 7

Systematic reviews may OVERESTIMATE intervention effects

Question 8

Grey Matters

Answer 8

Comprehensive resource that provides guides to a variety of options for searching grey literature websites (library websites with convenient databases)

Question 9

Primary Sources

Answer 9

Reports provided DIRECTLY from investigator

Ex: research articles in professional journals, conference-presented research results and dissertations

Question 10

Secondary Sources

Answer 10

Description or review of one or more studies presented by SOMEONE OTHER THAN the original author(s)
Convenient, but can be incomplete, inaccurate, biased, or out-of-date

Ex: review articles, textbooks

Question 11

Are systematic reviews classified as Secondary sources?

Answer 11

They technically are, but become primary sources as they generate new knowledge

Question 12

How does systematic reviews become Primary Sources?

Answer 12

By generating new knowledge through rigorous selection criteria, evaluation of methodological quality and conclusions drawn from the synthesis of previous research.

Question 13

Database

Answer 13

Index of citations that is searchable by keywords, author, title, or journal

Question 14

Most commonly used databases in healthcare

Answer 14

MEDLINE, CINAHL, and the COCHRANE DATABASE of SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

Question 15

Medline
National Library of Medicine

Answer 15

Citations from life sciences and biomedical literature.
Primary access through PubMed
Free access, some full text

MOST USED

Question 16

CINAHL
Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature

Answer 16

Indexes published articles and other references relevant to nursing and the health professions
Requires subscription

Question 17

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
The Cochrane Collaboration

Answer 17

Full-text systematic reviews of 1ary research in healthcare and health policy
Access from PubMed
Free access, some full text

Question 18

PubMed

Answer 18

A platform developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
Free, readily available through the internet, and comprehensive

Question 19

What do you need to be included in MEDLINE?

Answer 19

Submit application. Must be able to show that journal records research progress in an area of life sciences and influences development and implementation of related policy.

Other small or newer journal that don’t make it in MEDLINE can be accessed through CINAHL

Question 20

Search engine geared primarily toward EBP and clinicians

Answer 20

Translating Research into Practice (Trip)

Searches multiple databases, provides algorithm based on PICO

Question 21

How can you use Google Scholar to your benefit, knowing it’s not reliable?

Answer 21

You can use it to find the right keyword if struggling at the start of your literature search.
Finding Grey literature (requires thorough searching)

Question 22

How do you implement a search?

Answer 22

By reviewing citations, reading abstracts, and choosing which references should be read

Question 23

Successful searches require what?

Answer 23

Several iterations, revising keyword strategies and using different databases

Question 24

Truncation

Answer 24

Uses a symbol to replace endings on words to bring back items with variations
(*, $ or #)

Question 25

Wildcards

Answer 25

Uses a symbol to replace a letter in the middle of a word for spelling variations
(?)

Question 26

Boolean Logic

Answer 26

Basis for specifying set of terms to focus searches and is typically represented by Venn diagrams

Question 27

Boolean Operators
AND, OR, NOT

Answer 27

AND - Citations that contain BOTH keywords
OR - Citations that combine/mention either keyword
NOT - Exclude words for the search

Question 28

Nesting

Answer 28

Combination of AND and OR

Question 29

How do you tell a database to consider something as one word?

Answer 29

using quotes around a word tells database to consider it as ONE word (“__”)

Question 30

The abstract of a research paper is required to have a specific categories of content like

Answer 30

background, study question/objective, population, study design, setting, methods, analysis, results, and conclusions

Question 31

How can you determine if a journal is worth reading (as to your purpose)?

Answer 31

Reading the abstract will give you a good idea

Question 32

Medical Subject Headings
(MeSH)

Answer 32

Subject heading descriptor

Consists of broad categories and gradually narrows to more specific terms

Question 33

Exploding a Search

Answer 33

The search will retrieve results using the selected term and all its narrower headings

Question 34

Focusing a Search

Answer 34

Limited to documents for which the subject heading has been identified as a major point of the article

Question 35

Subheadings do what

Answer 35

Further detail each MeSH term

Question 36

Limits / Filters

Answer 36

Restricting results to studies of humans or animals, specific age groups or sexes, language, dates of publication, or studies that are provided as full text
Also limits based on study design

Question 37

Clinical Queries

Answer 37

PubMed predesigned strategies to target search for studies on therapy (interventions), diagnosis, etiology, prognosis, or clinical prediction rules

Question 38

Sensitivity

Answer 38

Proportion of relevant articles identified by a search out of all relevant articles that exist on the topic
BROAD-clinical queries

Question 39

Specificity

Answer 39

Proportion of relevant citations that the search is able to retrieve, or a measure of the ability of the search strategy to exclude irrelevant articles
NARROW-clinical queries

Question 40

Where do you find similar articles?

Answer 40

Some databases uses the “related or similar articles”
Use the Reference list to find classic/repeated references
Cited Reference Searching: articles cited by others
Journal and Author Searching: expert authors

Question 41

Accessing Full Text

Answer 41

Buy or rent
Use Academic library -Interlibrary loan
PubMed Lonesome Doc
Public Libraries
Author requests
Open Access Journals

Question 42

Interlibrary Loan

Answer 42

Home library will find another library with a subscription to the journal you need, request your article, and send it to you electronically for a fee (cheaper than direct purchase)

Question 43

Staying Current and Organized

Answer 43

Creating an account to save records and searches