PTA 221 Finding & Using PT Information Martin J. Crabtree MCCC Library

Agenda Resources at the MCCC library Electronic Searching Basics Keywords & Boolean Searching Electronic Databases at Mercer What’s a database? Databases suited for physical therapy research Accessing the databases Web Information The Invisible Web Evaluating what you find

Resources at the MCCC Library The library has a number of resources in many formats (books, periodicals, videos, music, and more). The catalog is available online (Periodicals are not listed in the catalog). You will find items in both the college’s and Mercer County Public (MCL) libraries.

The link to the catalog is on the library’s web pages.

PT materials at the MCCC library MCCC like most colleges and universities uses the Library of Congress (LC) system for shelving books. PT books can generally be found in the RM676 – RM950 section. Periodicals at MCCC include: Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy Journal of Physical Therapy Education Physical Therapy

Searching Electronic Databases …and the World Wide Web too

Starting An Electronic Search Keywords Keywords are used when searching electronic databases and web search engines First step - Generate a list of words (keywords) that describes or is commonly used when discussing your topic. For example: Shoulder Rotator Cuff Treatment Children

Starting An Electronic Search Boolean Searching/Logic Boolean searching - Connecting keywords with the terms and not or For example eagles NOT football (car or automobile) and exhaust More Terms = Fewer “Hits”

Searching More Than Just Keywords Phrases & Truncations To search for a phrase, use quotation marks “rotator cuff” or “physical therapy” Truncations allow for searching related words all at once The * is usually used. For example: “child*” would include: child, children, childhood, childproof, etc.

Let’s take a quick look at how some of these techniques can help

Electronic Databases at the Mercer Library

What are electronic databases? A collection of electronically searchable information (frequently, but not limited to, periodical articles) that is accessible via the internet Access to this information is by subscription only, paid by the library. It is accessible via the internet, but it is not truly web information.

Electronic Databases In General Over 40 databases available Not every article is available full text though many are Abstracts (summary) is often available when full text is not

Electronic Databases - In General Accessible at any computer on the MCCC/JKC campus network Most are available off campus, need to request a password. Can print/e-mail/download articles

Where’s the Physical Therapy Stuff? Health Source – Nursing Academic Edition (EBSCOhost) Covers not only nursing but also number other medical disciplines including PT. Contains a number of full-text scholarly periodicals. CINAHL One of the largest databases of nursing and related health (like PT) information Though some full-text journal articles are available, many articles are abstract only. CINAHL = Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature

Searching the World Wide Web and Evaluating What You Find Brought to you by… &

Searching the World Wide Web How can I find what I want?

Searching the World Wide Web Everything is NOT on the web and may never be No search engine covers the entire web The “invisible web” is huge! Though there has yet to be consensus, estimates put the size of the invisible web between 2 and 500 times bigger than the “visible” (or surface) web.

Searching the World Wide Web Search Strategy Searching the Web is much like database searching: Use keywords and Boolean logic (and, not, or) to better define your search, use double quotes for phrases, etc. When searching the web, also consider: Different search engines yield different results. You may want to try using more that just your “regular” search engine Use the search engine’s “advanced search” to select limiting parameters (language, date, domain, etc.)

Searching the World Wide Web Search Engines & Meta Sites Become familiar with your search engines features: http://www.infopeople.org/search/chart.html http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/ http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html Meta search sites (like Ask Jeeves, Dogpile): Allow you to search more than one search engines at once. Can generate more “stuff” to sift through Limited to only basic searches, can’t use advanced search features Some results can be from “paid for listing” search engines

The Invisible Web Why is so much being missed? When using a search engine, you are actually searching a database that represents what is known to be on the web Spiders or crawlers roam the web from link to link generating this database Works extremely well for static all text pages in the HTML language The problem arises when pages are ever changing or not in HTML

The Invisible Web So where is all of this stuff hiding? By far, a great amount is contained in databases (both paid and free) Other places include: Non-text information such as photos or audio PDF formatted documents Very new web pages Password only access information

The Invisible Web Finding the invisible stuff The key is knowing when you need “invisible” information and then where to find it. Not every web search requires looking in the invisible web. Search engines work best when looking for a narrow, focused topic.

Some sources of web information http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/medlineplus.html - MedlinePlus, medical information from the National Institutes of Health www.apta.org – The American Physical Therapy Association’s website. A great source of education, career, and research info. Membership is required to obtain some of the info. Online e-journals. Some require membership or subscription but you can often search the indexes for articles. Some have free full text like the Journal of Physical Therapy Science

Is this stuff any good? Evaluating Web Sites

Now Back to Our “Sponsors” &

Evaluating Web Sites Quality varies greatly from site to site YOU are the sole evaluator of the quality of information a site provides

Five Evaluation Criteria Accuracy - is it reliable? Authority - is author qualified on subject? Objectivity - is the information biased? Currency - is the information “new” enough? Coverage - does the info completely cover the topic?

Evaluating Web Sites Search engines may put you out of context, go the home page to help evaluate the site A web site page will include contact information such as phone numbers and street addresses (not just an e-mail address) Look for the “about us” page for more about who is responsible for the website and it’s contents

Site Extensions The extension can help evaluate information .gov - Governmental sites .edu - Educational institution sites .com - Commercial sites .org - Not for profit organization sites .mil - Military sites Others are being creates that are less clear cut, e.g.: .net or .co.uk

Other Considerations Watch out for information that is positioned to sell you something. Altered web pages (either by accident or maliciously) Links to other web sites DOES NOT necessarily mean that the site is credible. Evaluate each site separately.

Buyer Beware The Bottom Line… The web contains a vast amount of information…but not everything Anyone can put information on the web, hence the quality of web information varies greatly YOU will often be the only person to decide if the quality of the info you find on the web is good Now let’s visit a site…