Searching the literature: An introduction to library resources and research methodsBMDE 500 – Seminars in biomedical engineering

Andrea Miller-NesbittLiaison Librarianandrea.miller-nesbitt

Objectives

By the end of this class you will be able to:

1. Identify appropriate sources in which to find biomedical engineering information

2. Understand how to create and execute an effective search

3. Keep track of your research using email alerts and citation management software

Off campus access

http://www.mcgill.ca/library/library-using/connect

Citation management software

• Import references from library catalogue and databases

• Store, organize, and format your references

• Create bibliographies with Microsoft Word

Course guide

Lab notebooks, grey literature, data

Conference papers

Theses and dissertations

Journal Articles

Books

Encyclopedias,Textbooks

Develop an idea

Present preliminary

research

Report Research

Publish Research

Integrate

Generalize

The research cycle

"That which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers"

The Fourth International Conference on Grey Literature, (Luxembourg, 1997)

(i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body.)

Grey literature

Database Subject areas Dates covered

Types of information indexed

PubMed Biomedicine and health care 1946 to present

Journals

Compendex All aspects of engineering 1884 to present

Journals, dissertations, patents (pre 1970)

IEEE Various aspects of engineering, includes standards

1872 to present

Journals, standards, graphs and diagrams

Materials Research Database

A series of materials engineering databases

1965 to present

Journals, technical reports, patents, press releases, trade journals

SciFinder All aspects of chemistry 1907 to present

Journals, patents, regulatory information, commercial information, chemical data

NCBI Entrez A series of linked bioinformatics databases

1980’s to present

Biological data, linked to PubMed

Web of Science

Multidisciplinary 1899 to present

Journals, patents

Scopus Multidisciplinary 1960’s to present

Journals, dissertations, trade journals

Database Comparison

You are interested in the use of hydrogels for the regeneration of cardiac muscle.

Sample search – Web of Science

HydrogelsCardiac muscle

Tissue regeneration

• Start with your first concept

“cardiac muscle”

• Combine any synonyms with OR”cardiac muscle” OR “cardiac tissue” OR heart

• Repeat for your second, or any subsequent conceptshydrogel*

“tissue regeneration” OR “myocardial regeneration”

• Finally, group your concepts with brackets and combine with AND

(”cardiac muscle” OR “cardiac tissue” OR heart) AND (“tissue regeneration” OR “myocardial regeneration”) AND hydrogel*

Developing a search strategy

You are interested in ways to relieve pressure for people using lower-limb prosthetics

Sample search - PubMed

Lower limb Pressure Prosthetics

Keyword Subject Heading

“natural language” “controlled vocabulary”

Database will search multiple fields Database will search descriptor field

May not be the focus of the article Process involves humans, so results will be more relevant

Does not take the meaning of the word into account

Meaning of the word is considered ex. mouse (rodent) vs. mouse (computer mouse)

Can yield irrelevant results Standard list of terms defines related synonyms

Necessary if database does not have a controlled vocabulary, or if subject heading does not exist for your term

Different in each database

Keyword vs. Subject Heading

CancerTumorTumourNeoplasmNeoplasms

Neoplasms/

25,588 MeSH terms

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

You’re interested in the influence of sound wave distortion on various biomedical ultrasound applications

Sample search - Compendex

Sound wave distortion

Ultrasound application

s

• Module 1: EndNote Essentials

• Module 2: Graduate Research tool Kit

• Module 3: Search Strategies and Techniques

• Module 4: Getting Your Research Out

MyResearch Graduate Seminar Series

Andrea Miller-NesbittLiaison Librarian

andrea.miller-nesbitt@mcgill.ca

514.398.1663

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Questions?