HINARI/E-Resources and Internet Searching

(module 1.2)

MODULE 1.2 E-Resources and Internet Searching

Instructions - This part of the:

course is a PowerPoint demonstration intended to introduce you to E-Resources and Internet Searching.

module is off-line and is intended as an information resource for reference use.

Table of Contents

E-resources Use of E-resources Types of Information Gateways, Databases and Search Engines

Searching techniques and strategies Boolean searching Advanced searching

Why Use E-Resources?

• An up-to-date resource• Convenience• Extra features—e.g. search facilities, links

to other databases, supplementary information

• Access to a wider range of material than might otherwise be available within the local medical library

Electronic Library Resources

• Any library or information resources that can be accessed electronically, e.g.– electronic journals– scholarly databases– electronic books– hybrid digital collections– Internet gateways and search engines

• Free or fee-based access

Electronic Journal Formats

• Full-text/whole journal available– Electronic version of print– Electronic only

• Partial full-text/selected articles only• Table of contents/citations/abstracts only• Citations only

Source of the previous three slides is the INASP Training materials on Electronic Library Resources http://www.inasp.info/training/ejournals/

Types of Electronic Journals

• Academic– Refereed journals– Review journals– Bulletins

• Non-academic– Magazines– Newspapers

Refereed journals Example: Social Science & Medicine• Used to:

– disseminate research findings– find out about research by others in your field– identify methodologies for your own work

• Features– written by researchers and experts– aimed at researchers and experts– articles always cite sources– peer reviewed

• Strengths/weaknesses– high-quality, reliable information– may be slow to be published due to review process – often fee-based access/may be available via HINARI

Review journalsExample: Reviews in Medical Virology• Used to

– give an overview of the current literature in a specific research area or discipline

• Features– give an overview of the current literature in a specific

research area or discipline– titles usually contain ‘Review’, ‘Reviews’, ‘Advances

in’, ‘Current opinion in’, ‘Progress in’, ‘Trends in’ – have already done much of the literature searching for

you

Bulletins Example: Bulletin of the World Health Organization• Used for:

– making announcements to a specific audience– up-to-date information in a very specific area

• Features – written by in-house staff, or staff writers – may be issued as required, sometimes intermittently – contain short reports

• Strengths/weaknesses– very up-to-date– standard very variable

Non-academic resources• Magazines

– Entertainment, information about popular culture, product information

– Easy to read, entertaining, information is lightweight and not always reliable

• Newspapers– Up-to-the minute information, current affairs,

debate– Can be valuable sources of certain kinds of

information but inherent problems of all newspapers

Internet Search tools

• Which search tools are needed?– Gateways– Databases– Search Engines

Gateway• a node or network that serves as an entrance

to another network• organize information in a structured way in

general or subject categories• examples:

–Yahoo www.yahoo.com–WHO A-Z health topics list www.who.int/topics/en/–Essential Health Links www.healthnet.org/essential-links/ –HINARI/AGORA/OARE

Database• a collection of information organized in

such a way that a computer can quickly select desired pieces of data

• an electronic filing system • traditional databases are organized by

fields, records and files• example: PubMed - a free search tool to over 19

million citations www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed

Search Engine• a program that searches documents for specified

keywords and returns a list of documents where the keywords were found

• on the WWW, utilizes automated robotics to gather and index information

• examples• Google www.google.com• Google Scholar (more academic)

www.scholar.google.com• Yahoo www.yahoo.com

The Google search engine

This is the Google search engine. Type your query into the Google Search box and click on the Google Search button

Search results on Google

This is how Google presents the results of your search. Follow the links to the websites you wish to visit.

Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. You can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.

Why is effective searching important?

• There are a huge number of resources online– Google claims it searches greater than 4 billion web

pages

• We need to make effective use of– electricity– computers – bandwidth – time – money – training

How to find the right information?

• Browsing – slow, sometimes appropriate• Site-specific search tools (e.g. within

bibliographic databases)• Subject-based information gateways• Search engines

Planning a Search Strategy1. Define your information need2. Choose your search terms3. Decide which sources to use4. Find out how the search tool functions5. Run your search6. Review and refine you search

Note: 1-3 can be done without a computer

1. Define your information need

• What sort of information are you looking for?– Specific information, e.g. a fact or date

• Reference source, e.g. data book, encyclopaedia, dictionary, the Web or even a textbook are usually best

– General information, e.g. research areas• May require more thought, including how much information is

needed and at what depth

• Who is going to use the information?– Researcher? Academic? First year student?

• This might effect which sort of information you require

2. Choose your search terms

• What unique words do you think will appear in the site/article you want?

• Are there any key phrases?• Are there any synonyms, alternative

spellings, plurals or capitals that you need to consider?

• What broader topic is it a part of or related to?

Example: To find information on health problems of water pollution

• Keywords–’water’ ‘pollution’ ‘health’• Broader topics–‘environmental degradation’ or

‘agricultural management’ or ‘health’• Synonyms

– Water: rivers, lakes, sea, coastal,’domestic water’, etc– Pollution: ‘oil spills’, chemical, biological, toxicity, etc– Health: illness, disease, etc

• Alternative spellings: none• Plurals: river(s), lake(s), disease(s)• Capitals: e.g. name of a specific lake, disease,

region

3. Decide which sources to useWhat sources are appropriate?• Individuals’ and organisations’ home pages• Newspapers and magazines• Subject gateways, databases, catalogues• Journals—titles, abstracts or full text • Reference resources, e.g., encyclopaedias, dictionaries• Books• Grey literature, e.g. governmental or non- governmental

organizations publications• Print or electronic

4. How search tools function

Electronic search tools all function slightly differently and may use:

• Boolean operators• Phrase searching• Case sensitivity• Truncation or wildcard functions• Fields, stop words, relevance sorting

Boolean (Search) Operators

• Connect terms and locate records containing matching terms

• Inserted in a search box – AND, OR, NOT• Must be in UPPERCASE when used• AND, NOT operators are processed in a

left- to right sequence. These are processed first before the OR operators

• OR operators are also processed from left-to-right

AND Operator (to combine two concepts and

narrow a search)

the AND operator is used to combine two concepts e.g. hip AND fracture – in the shaded area; retrieves items containing all the search terms

Boolean AND example

Boolean example AND results

AND Operator (to combine three concepts)

the AND operator is used to combine three concepts e.g. hip AND fracture AND elderly – in the shaded area.

AND 3 terms results

OR Operator (info containing one or other term;

will broaden a search)

renal OR kidney – in the shaded area with the overlap in the middle having both search terms; retrieves items containing either search term or both search terms

Renal OR Kidney results

`

NOT Operator (in one term or the other - will

narrow a search)

pig NOT guinea – in the shaded area; eliminates items in 2nd term (guinea) or both terms

Other search engine functions• Phrase or proximity searching: “…” or (…)

– allows you to search for an exact phrase “information literacy”

prevention and (malaria parasite)• Truncation/wildcards: *

– allow you to search alternative spellings child* for child OR childs OR children parasite* for parasite OR parasites• Alternate spellings: ?

– can be used to substitute for characters anywhere in a word

wom?n would search for “woman” and “women”

Africa AND (malaria OR tuberculosis)

malaria tuberculosis

africa

Africa AND (malaria or tuberculosis) – in the shaded area The (OR) operator retains items in each term and the AND operator is used to combine two concepts

More Search Techniques• Field Specific Searching

– author, title, journal, date, url, etc. • Language Restrictions, Humans or Animals, Gender and

other limits (to be discussed in Module 4.2 – PubMed LIMITS)• Relevancy Ranking

– a grading that gives extra weight to a document when the search terms appear in the headline or are capitalized

– every found document is calculated as 100% multiply by the angle formed by weights vector for request and weights vector for document found

5. Run the search

• Take the terms/keywords you have decided on

• Find the sources you are going to search• Read the ‘Help’ page!! to find out how that

particular tool works• Run the search

6. Review and revise your search

Hopefully you have found what are looking for, or at least places to start from, but

• Be prepared to review and revise your search scope and strategy

• Try new sources of information (familiarity is sometimes too easy)

• Start again near the beginning of this process if you need to

Use the information!

• Ensure you keep an accurate records for future use/citation

• Promote high-quality resources to your colleagues/users

• Encourage others to adopt techniques and strategies that you have found successful

• Pass on your expert knowledge

Advanced options

Advanced search results

This is the end of Module 1.2

There is a Work Book to accompany this part of the module. The workbook will take you through a live session covering the topics included in this demonstration with working examples.

Updated 11 2009