Lec 3 - Searching and Reviewing the Literature

Literature Review

• A document exploring and evaluating the literature on a specific topic

  • What is known on the topic

  • How well is this knowledge established

  • Where is future research best directed

Scoping Review

• Type of knowledge synthesis that maps key concepts, sources, and evidence in a broad research area to give preliminary overview of the nature and extent of existing literature

Mapping Review

• A systematic and transparent method that categorizes existing evidence to show what research exists, where gaps remain, and to guide future studies

Systematic Review

• A rigorous method of minimizing bias by comprehensively identifying, appraising, and synthesizing studies on a specific topic

  • Often includes a meta-analysis to combine data into a single summary

Search Engines

• Information retrieval systems that search the internet and electronic databases for websites, files, or documents

Bibliographic Databases

• Contains lists of citations of published and unpublished references

Reference Management Software

• Any software product used for storage and retrieval of bibliographic records

• Also called as citation or bibliographic management software

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

• is the National Library of Medicine’s controlled vocabulary thesaurus used for indexing articles for MEDLINE and PubMED

• Used to maintain uniformit and consistency to the indexing and cataloging of biomedical literature

AND

• Boolean Logic and other search operators

• Articles that contain all the terms

OR

• Boolean Logic and other search operators

• Articles that contain any of the terms

NOT

• Boolean Logic and other search operators

• Eliminates articles containing the term after “NOT”

( ) Parenthesis

• Boolean Logic and other search operators

• Grouping Operator

• Groups terms together to control the order of operations

• Terms inside the parentheses are evaluated first before combining with other terms

“ ”  Quotation Marks

• Boolean Logic and other search operators

• Exact Phrase Search

• Used to search for an exact phrase or sequence of words

Asterisk *

• Boolean Logic and other search operators

• Truncation or Wildcard Operator

• Used as a truncation symbol to retrieve variations of a root word by replacing zero or more characters at the end of the word

Related articles search

• Methods of improving search sensitivity

• Looking at the suggested related articles

Ancestral Search

• Methods of improving search sensitivity

• Tracking down the references of an article that you are reading

Citation Search

• Methods of improving search sensitivity

• Looking at the references or articles that cited the article you are reading

Gray literature

• Methods of improving search sensitivity

• Looking at research that is either unpublished or has been published in a non-commercial form

Primary Sources

• Contain first-hand information on a specific topic

• The material is the author’s own account of something that he or she has participated in

• e.g., dissertation, interview

Secondary Sources

• Contain information originating from another source

• e.g., textbook, academic journal

Charting Method

• Note-taking strategies

• Construct a list of points/topics/subjects you want to write about, and create a column for each one

• As you read, note down notes and references in the appropriate column

Sentence Method

• Note-taking strategies

• As you read, write down new ideas and bits of information as a sentence

Cornell Method

• Note-taking strategies

• In one column, write your summary of the author’s conclusions and evidence

• In another column, write down your own assessment, critique, and other comments

Mapping Method

• Note-taking strategies

• Write down key concepts and terms, with related ideas radiating out from these

Journal Article

• Brief and concise, exhaustive review (1 to 2 pages)

• Assumes the reader has some knowledge

• Only cite and reference materials pertinent to the issue

• Emphasize pertinent findings, relevant issues, and major conclusions of cited studies

Master’s Thesis or Dissertation

• Comprehensive (20 to 40 pages)

• Present chronological progressions of knowledge on the subject

Funnel Model

• Introduce the problem and set the context

• Proceed to the analysis of past research

  • This includes highlighting the development of major concepts

• Narrow the focus to studies closest to yours

• When writing a research proposal or manuscript, the tunnel becomes an inverted funnel wherein the gap, objectives, and significance will be included

Refenrences

• Provides an opportunity to give other researchers credit for the contributions of their work to your own work

• To avoid plagiarism

• Provide evidence and support claims in your scholarly works.

In-text Citations

• Found within the body of one’s scholarly work

• Consists of the family name of the author, and the year of publication

Reference List

• Bibliography

• Lists down all information for all the sources used in a scholarly work

• Usually found at the end of the output

Citation Style

• Dictates the information necessary for a citation and how the information is ordered, as well as punctuation and other formatting.

American Psychological Association (APA)

• Used in education, psychology, and sciences

• (Author, Year, p. #)

• Title page is required

  • Title, author, institution, course, instructor, and due date

• References

• Author’s first name is abbreviated

Modern Language Association (MLA)

• Used in humanities

• (Author #)

• Title page is not requrired

  •  Four-line header is in the first page

• Works Cited

• Author’s first name is spelled out