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• how to clarify the question (or perhaps questions) on which you need to find
literature
• selecting the databases and other resources you will need to search
• devising the most comprehensive literature search strategy so you know
you’ve not missed any relevant studies
• keeping up to date with new information appearing between the initial search
and write-up
• issues around management of process and results
• management of references (using software such as EndNote), and getting
hold of the full text article
3. What does “systematic” mean?
• Explicit
• Transparent
• Methodical
• Objective
• Standardised
• Structured
• reproducable
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• “who would want reviews to be unsystematic, if by ‘systematic’ we mean
no more than ‘properly carried out, taking account of all the relevant
evidence, and making reliable judgements about its validity and
implications’? On this definition, to produce a systematic review is
simply to do the job of reviewing well.”
Hammersley (2002)
Systematic or Unsystematic, is that the Question?
Some reflections on the science, art, and politics of reviewing research evidence.
http://www.nice.org.uk/niceMedia/pdf/sys_unsys_phesg_hammersley.pdf
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#1 Accidents/
#2 exp Accidents, Traffic/
#3 exp Accident Prevention/
#4 exp Motorcycles/
#5 motor-cycl* or motorcycl* or motor-bik* or motorbik* or scooter* or moped* or moto
or motocycl* or motocicl*
#6 trauma* or injur* or fatal* or accident* or crash* or prevent* or collide* or collision*
#7 #1 or #2 or #3 or #4 or #5 or #6
#8 head near protect*
#9 head near shield*
#10 helmet*
#11 exp Head Protective Devices/
#12 #8 or #9 or #10 or #11
#13 #7 and #12
7. 1 clinical trial.pt.
2 randomized.ab,ti.
3 placebo.ab,ti.
4 dt.fs.
5 randomly.ab,ti.
6 trial.ab,ti.
7 groups.ab,ti.
8 or/1-7
9 Animals/
10 Humans/
11 9 not (9 and 10)
12 8 not 11
13 dorsalgia.ab,ti.
14 exp Back Pain/
15 exp Low Back Pain/
16 backache.ab,ti.
17 (lumbar adj pain).ab,ti.
18 coccyx.ab,ti.
19 coccydynia.ab,ti.
20 exp Sciatica/
21 sciatica.ab,ti.
22 spondylosis.ab,ti.
23 lumbago.ab,ti.
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46 exp Bed Rest/
24 or/13-23
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47 bed rest.mp.
25 exp Spine/
48 or/39-47
26 discitis.ab,ti.
49 24 or 38
27 exp Spinal Diseases/
28 (disc adj degeneration).ab,ti. 50 12 and 49
51 48 and 50
29 (disc adj prolapse).ab,ti.
30 (disc adj herniation).ab,ti.
31 spinal fusion.sh.
32 spinal neoplasms.sh.
33 (facet adj joints).ab,ti.
34 intervertebral disk.sh.
35 postlaminectomy.ab,ti.
36 arachnoiditis.ab,ti.
37 (failed adj back).ab,ti.
38 or/25-37
39 exp activities of daily living/
40 activities of daily living.tw.
41 day to day activ$.ti,ab.
42 daily activit$.ti,ab.
43 ordinary activit$.ti,ab.
44 normal activit$.ti,ab.
45 stay$ active.ti,ab.
8. From topic to search
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introducing the research topic
• clarifying the question
• setting parameters (inclusion/exclusion criteria not built into
search?)
lose marks through sloppy references
Question
Keywords
Synonyms
MeSH / Subject Headings / sub headings
Boolean Logic
Truncation / wildcards
Limits
9. From topic to search
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• Topic -> question -> keywords/synonyms
Diabetes, especially the impact of patient education …..
”Is patient education effective in improving blood sugar control
in teenage diabetics?”
…………………keywords???.... synonyms???........................
Themes?
10. From topic to search
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”Is patient education effecting in improving blood sugar control
in teenage diabetics?”
1 – teenagers
2 – patient education
3 – blood sugar
PICO ?
Synonyms?
Patient/Problem/Population
Intervention
Comparison
Outcome
(time?)
11. From topic to search
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”Is patient education effecting in improving blood sugar control
in teenage diabetics?”
1 – teenagers teens adolescents
2– patient education patient information
3 – blood sugar blood glucose hypoglycaemia hyperglycaemia
12. Boolean Logic
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AND – to narrow the search by combining different topics
eg
“teenage” and “patient education”
Both terms must be present in the results.
13. Boolean Logic
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OR – to broaden your search, by combining similar terms
eg
“teenage” or “adolescent”
Either term can be present in the resulting set of articles.
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14. Boolean Logic
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NOT – to restrict your search so that it does not contain a particular term
eg
Hypoglycaemia NOT hyperglycaemia
The first, but not the second, term must be present.
15. From topic to search
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”Is patient education effecting in improving blood sugar control
in teenage diabetics?”
teenagers OR teens OR adolescents
AND
patient education OR patient information
AND
blood sugar OR blood glucose OR hypoglycaemia OR hyperglycaemia
19. From topic to search
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Truncation / wildcards?
1 – teenagers OR teens OR adolescents
AND
2 – patient education OR patient information
AND
3 – blood sugar OR blood glucose OR hypoglycaemia OR hyperglycaemia
20. Task
• Go to http://tinyurl.com/embase
• Click through to open EMBASE
• Using advance search, type a key word
(untick “map to subject heading”)
• How many hits?
• Type the keyword with some truncation (use *)
• How many hits?
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21. From topic to search
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• Where in the article record do you want the terms/keywords to appear?
• Title?
• Abstract?
• All/any field?
• Impact on sensitivity/specificity?
22. Task
• In EMBASE
• Type a key word, and search by “keyword”
• How many hits?
• Type a keyword and search by “title”
• How many hits?
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25. Task - EMBASE
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• Type in a keyword, tick “map to subject heading”
Relevant match? Select & explode
How many hits?
• Type in same keyword, tick “map to subject heading”
Relevant match? Select & explode
How many hits?
• Type in same keyword, tick “map to subject heading”
Relevant match? Select & focus
How many hits?
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26. From topic to search
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MeSH
1 – teen* OR adolesce* OR exp"Adolescent“/
AND
2 – patient education OR patient information OR exp”Patient Education as
Topic“/
AND
3 – blood sugar OR blood glucose OR hypoglycae* OR hyperglyca* OR
exp”Blood Glucose“/ OR exp"Hypoglycemia“/
27. From topic to search
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Inclusion / exclusion criterion?
teen* OR adolesce* OR exp"Adolescent“/
AND
patient education OR patient information OR exp”Patient Education as Topic“/
AND
blood sugar OR blood glucose OR hypoglycae* OR hyperglyca* OR exp”Blood Glucose“/ OR
exp"Hypoglycemia“/
Year of publication? Humans vs Animals?
Type of publication? Language of publication?
28. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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1 teen*
9
blood sugar
2 adolesce*
10
blood glucose
3 exp"Adolescent“/
11
hypoglycae*
4 1 or 2 or 3
12
hyperglyca*
5 patient education
13
exp”Blood Glucose“/
6 patient information
14
exp"Hypoglycemia“/
7 exp”Patient Education as
Topic“/
15
9 or 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14
16
4 and 8 and 15
8 5 or 6 or 7
29. 1 clinical trial.pt.
2 randomized.ab,ti.
3 placebo.ab,ti.
4 dt.fs.
5 randomly.ab,ti.
6 trial.ab,ti.
7 groups.ab,ti.
8 or/1-7
9 Animals/
10 Humans/
11 9 not (9 and 10)
12 8 not 11
13 dorsalgia.ab,ti.
14 exp Back Pain/
15 exp Low Back Pain/
16 backache.ab,ti.
17 (lumbar adj pain).ab,ti.
18 coccyx.ab,ti.
19 coccydynia.ab,ti.
20 exp Sciatica/
21 sciatica.ab,ti.
22 spondylosis.ab,ti.
23 lumbago.ab,ti.
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46 exp Bed Rest/
24 or/13-23
MEDICAL LIBRARY
47 bed rest.mp.
25 exp Spine/
48 or/39-47
26 discitis.ab,ti.
49 24 or 38
27 exp Spinal Diseases/
28 (disc adj degeneration).ab,ti. 50 12 and 49
51 48 and 50
29 (disc adj prolapse).ab,ti.
30 (disc adj herniation).ab,ti.
31 spinal fusion.sh.
32 spinal neoplasms.sh.
33 (facet adj joints).ab,ti.
34 intervertebral disk.sh.
35 postlaminectomy.ab,ti.
36 arachnoiditis.ab,ti.
37 (failed adj back).ab,ti.
38 or/25-37
39 exp activities of daily living/
40 activities of daily living.tw.
41 day to day activ$.ti,ab.
42 daily activit$.ti,ab.
43 ordinary activit$.ti,ab.
44 normal activit$.ti,ab.
45 stay$ active.ti,ab.
30. 1 clinical trial.pt.
2 randomized.ab,ti.
3 placebo.ab,ti.
4 dt.fs.
5 randomly.ab,ti.
6 trial.ab,ti.
7 groups.ab,ti.
8 or/1-7
9 Animals/
10 Humans/
11 9 not (9 and 10)
12 8 not 11
13 dorsalgia.ab,ti.
14 exp Back Pain/
15 exp Low Back Pain/
16 backache.ab,ti.
17 (lumbar adj pain).ab,ti.
18 coccyx.ab,ti.
19 coccydynia.ab,ti.
20 exp Sciatica/
21 sciatica.ab,ti.
22 spondylosis.ab,ti.
23 lumbago.ab,ti.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
46 exp Bed Rest/
24 or/13-23
MEDICAL LIBRARY
47 bed rest.mp.
25 exp Spine/
48 or/39-47
26 discitis.ab,ti.
49 24 or 38
27 exp Spinal Diseases/
28 (disc adj degeneration).ab,ti. 50 12 and 49
51 48 and 50
29 (disc adj prolapse).ab,ti.
30 (disc adj herniation).ab,ti.
31 spinal fusion.sh.
32 spinal neoplasms.sh.
33 (facet adj joints).ab,ti.
34 intervertebral disk.sh.
35 postlaminectomy.ab,ti.
36 arachnoiditis.ab,ti.
37 (failed adj back).ab,ti.
38 or/25-37
39 exp activities of daily living/
40 activities of daily living.tw.
41 day to day activ$.ti,ab.
42 daily activit$.ti,ab.
43 ordinary activit$.ti,ab.
44 normal activit$.ti,ab.
45 stay$ active.ti,ab.
31. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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Advice to rest in bed versus advice to stay active for acute
low-back pain and sciatica
The objective of this review is to determine the effects of advice to rest in bed or stay active for patients
with acute low-back pain or sciatica.
The following comparisons will be made:
•
Bed rest versus staying active
•
Bed rest versus other treatments (besides staying active)
•
Shorter periods of bed rest versus longer periods of bed rest
•
Staying active versus other treatments (besides bed rest)
•
Comparison between different forms of advice to stay active (e.g. avoiding bedrest, staying active)
http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD007612/pdf_fs.html
32. From topic to search:
same strategy, different words
Moving from one database to another…..
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33. From topic to search:
same strategy, different words
Medline (via OVID)
1 Epidemiologic studies/
2 Exp case control studies/
3 Exp cohort studies/
4 Case control.tw.
5 (cohort adj (study or studies)).tw.
6 Cohort analy$.tw.
7 (Follow up adj (study or studies)).tw.
8 (observational adj (study or studies)).tw.
9 Longitudinal.tw.
10 Retrospective.tw.
11 Cross sectional.tw.
12 Cross-sectional studies/
13 Or/1-12
•
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Embase (via OVID)
1 Clinical study/
2 Case control study
3 Family study/
4 Longitudinal study/
5 Retrospective study/
6 Prospective study/
7 Randomized controlled trials/
8 6 not 7
9 Cohort analysis/
10 (Cohort adj (study or studies)).mp.
11 (Case control adj (study or studies)).tw.
12 (follow up adj (study or studies)).tw.
13 (observational adj (study or studies)).tw.
14 (epidemiologic$ adj (study or studies)).tw.
15 (cross sectional adj (study or studies)).tw.
16 Or/1-5,8-15
http://www.sign.ac.uk/methodology/filters.html Observational Study Filters
34. From topic to search:
same strategy, different words
Medline (via OVID)
1 Epidemiologic studies/
2 Exp case control studies/
3 Exp cohort studies/
4 Case control.tw.
5 (cohort adj (study or studies)).tw.
6 Cohort analy$.tw.
7 (Follow up adj (study or studies)).tw.
8 (observational adj (study or studies)).tw.
9 Longitudinal.tw.
10 Retrospective.tw.
11 Cross sectional.tw.
12 Cross-sectional studies/
13 Or/1-12
•
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Medline (via Pubmed)
#1 “Epidemiologic studies”[Mesh]
#2 “case control studies”[Mesh]
#3 “cohort studies”[Mesh]
#4 Case control[Text Word]
#5 (cohort stud*))[Text Word]
#6 Cohort analy*[Text Word]
#7 (Follow up AND (study or studies))[Text Word]
#8 (observational AND (study or studies))[Text
Word]
#9 Longitudinal[Text Word]
#10 Retrospective[Text Word]
#11 Cross sectional[Text Word]
#12 “Cross-sectional studies”[Mesh]
#13 #1 OR #2 OR #3 OR #4 OR #5 OR #6 OR
#7 OR #8 OR #9 OR #10 OR #11 OR #12
http://www.sign.ac.uk/methodology/filters.html Observational Study Filters
35. Keywords
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introducing the research topic
reviewing relevant literature
• identifying keywords and synonyms and MeSH
• structuring your search strategy with boolean logic
References
• DON’T plagiarise!
• Don’t lose marks through sloppy references
39. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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introducing the research topic
reviewing relevant literature
Identify relevant sources (and then search them!)
databases?
• http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/
websites?
• Google? Search by Organisation
hand searching?
• Which journals are key to your work?
snowballing?
• WoK or Scopus
books?
• LibrarySearch or COPAC or GoogleBooks
grey literature?
• Google: blog search; SIGLE;
conference proceedings
ongoing trials?
• Trials registers
40. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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introducing the research topic
CASP http://www.casp-uk.net
reviewing relevant literature
Identify relevant sources (and then search them!)
References & PDFs
• Critically appraising
“How to read a paper” Trish
Greenhalgh
WB 18.343 – in the Medical Library
or http://tinyurl.com/bmj-trish
• using them (cite while you write)
Zotero
Mendeley
EndnoteWeb
Endnote
Reference Manager
RefWorks
Papers
• Data extraction
Pdf xchange
• managing
• storing
Prisma
41. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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introducing the research topic
reviewing relevant literature
Identify relevant sources (and then search them!)
References
Keeping up to Date
• alerts
• journal TOCs
• citation tracking
Email alerts
RSS fees
42. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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introducing the research topic
reviewing relevant literature
Identify relevant sources (and then search them!)
References
Keeping up to Date
Management of process and results – more info on data management
•
•
•
•
What is the data you need to record?
Where will you record it? Where will you store it?
How will you record it?
How will you share it?
When should all this start?
43. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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introducing the research topic
reviewing relevant literature
Identify relevant sources (and then search them!)
References
Keeping up to Date
Management of process and results
Writing Up
• what did you actually do?
• and where did you do it? (750 words?)
•
•
•
•
•
Search log/diary
Results matrix
Tidying up your strategy
What did you find, where?
Explicit criterion = reproducable methodology
45. Books that might help
•
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http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/?itemid=|cambrdgedb|1258728
http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/?itemid=|cambrdgedb|317470
http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/?itemid=|cambrdgedb|4750307
http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/?itemid=|cambrdgedb|4850812
46. Stopping
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• Repetition
• Change in ratio of “good” : ”bad” articles retrieved
• Boundaries/Parameters?
• Databases are not infinite:
• if your strategy is good enough,
and your current awareness strategy is in place, trust it, and stop.
48. Help!
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Isla Kuhn
Reader Services Librarian
Medical Library
Box 111
Addenbrooke’s Hospital
email: ilk21@cam.ac.uk
phone: (01223) (3)36750
web: http://library.medschl.cam.ac.uk
Thank you.
Editor's Notes
{"42":"What is data?\nWhat’s the issue? \n= fragile – data format, elusive (particularly just when you need it!)\n= part of research methodology & part of legacy – people might want to build on your work\n= how much of what you produce will you want/need to keep\nWhere will you record/store it?\n= multiple copies, multiple places (confidential data permitting)\n= Key things to consider here are:\nthe names you give files and folders \nuse of tags, or information in file properties\nwhether you need to conform to any conventions in your field\nHow will you share it?\n= why should you?\nReputation\nFunding\nImpact\nRe-use\n= where? Dspace? \nUse repositories and data centres\nChoose open or controlled access\nConsider embargoes and redactions if necessary\n"}
