NMH Higher Research Degree Students UTS Library Wednesday 12 December 2012 (Prepared by Jane Van Balen) Library Workshop

Literature Searching and Databases Choosing the best database for your topic What databases are there to choose from? Why are there so many? What types of databases are there? Why do some have good indexing and few full text but others have lots of full text and poor indexing?

Literature Searching and Databases What databases are there to choose from? Medline; Cinahl; Cochrane DSR; Academic Search Premier; Maternity and Infant Care; ScienceDirect and Scopus; Proquest Central; Health Source Nursing/Academic; PubMed plus many more

Literature Searching and Databases What types of databases are there? general and subject specific academic and commercial

Databases GeneralSubject Specific Academic Search PremierCINAHL Expanded Academic ASAPMaternity and Infant Care ScienceDirectMedline or PubMed Wiley InterScienceBusiness Source Premier

Databases Academic Good indexing – little full text Commercial / Publisher Generally little attention to indexing – lots more full text. CINAHLScienceDirect (Elsevier) Scopus (Elsevier) Medline / PubMedWiley InterScience Maternity and Infant CareInterNurse (MA HealthCare) PsycInfoTaylor & Francis Online

Databases – divide is getting blurry… In order to become more competitive, many companies who provide access to academic journals enhance their services with some really useful services and features: Wiley InterScience provides access to the Cochrane Library Web of Science provides access to Cited References Google Scholar have even introduced Cited References Most databases provide links for exporting to referencing software. Elsevier (producer of ScienceDirect) have Scopus which like Web of Science provides information about impact factors etc.

Literature Searching - terms Developing Search terms from the topic or research question How broad or narrow? Synonyms – words with similar meanings Syntax of the database

Searching Video: Search Smarter, Search Faster Produced by University of Sydney library

Database finding tool

The search! Choose a suitable database and try running your search Does it use subject headings mapping? How will this affect choice of search terms What limits are available? Can I use a limit instead of another term?

The search Troubleshooting when searching databases getting too few results (expanders) getting too many results (limiters) For items not available at UTS Library use Interlibrary Loan or Bonus

Evaluating your articles Tools to assist : Abstracts Subject Headings (in OVID databases select “Complete Reference) Authors names Personal accounts for saved searches and alerts Various options available in different databases

Group Activity – Evaluate! Develop a set of criteria to determine the suitability of the articles you have found. This will assist you to be methodological and consistent. Your criteria will be governed by your topic’s parameters. Work with a partner and take turns to discuss your topic. Jot down the criteria This can include elements such as: Recency – how up to date do they need to be? Research articles – what level of research/evidence? Might also be topics to exclude (eg: patient education not professional education) Should the articles be Australian? Or do the issues apply globally? If there are too few relevant articles in your set, think about what will make them more relevant. Test your criteria against your list of results.

Managing articles Once you have found your articles… how to make the most of them. Being systematic Writing notes and keeping records as you read – eg which article had that great quote? Using referencing software

Referencing Software UTS Library provides access, training and support to two Referencing Software services: Endnote RefWorks

Endnote vs Refworks Endnote Needs to have software downloaded Write and Cite works very well PDFs can be added to each record Can convert Refworks libraries into Endnote RefWorks Online – no software to download except for Write and cite add in. Also means it’s easily transferable - easily used on multiple computers. Can link with SFX Can convert EndNote libraries into Refworks