Researching and Writing an Effective Background Section of a Research Paper

Lori Fitterling, MLSUniversity LibrarianKansas City University of Medicine & Bioscienceslfitterling@kcumb.edu

Lori Fitterling, MLSUniversity Library DirectorKansas City University of Medicine & Biosciences

lfitterling@kcumb.edu

Instructor of Medical Informatics and Information Literacy

26 years working in libraries 16 years working in medical libraries

ObjectivesExplain what should be included in the background section of a

research paper

Describe the process for conducting an effective literature review and why it is important in research methodology

Identify strategies used in database searching

Summarize ways to critically analyze results

Recognize the written elements of the background section of a research paper

How to begin?

Clearly define research objectives/purpose– Is topic researchable? – What is the scope – too broad, too narrow?– Is the topic timely, relevant, original or innovative?– Who is your audience? Who will be interested in your

research?– What methods of analysis will you use?– Has this research been done before? – Identify preliminary information sources

Beginning the Research Process

Initial Question/Topic

Keywords/Search strategy

Search

Review/Evaluate Results

• Select keywords, phrases to define your topic

• Look for relevant information on topic

• Repeat as often as necessary

• Enlist the help of librarians

BACKGROUND SECTION• Initial review and introduction

• Relevant information

• History

• Foundation for scientific inquiry

• Research methodology

• Thorough, unbiased, strong

Purpose is to introduce and support the validity of the research study

Background Section Must Have’s

Introductory thesis statement, research question, hypothesis

Statement of relevance of study

Specific aims and research objectives

Summary of current research

History of past research, noting problems with previous studies

Key issues and significance of the research

Conclusive statement

Good research design begins with a good Literature Review

“Failure to conduct a thorough, accurate, and up-to-date literature review identifying an important problem and placing the study in context is consistently identified as one of the top reasons for rejection.”

Maggio LA, Sewell JL, Artino AR Jr. The Literature Review: A Foundation for High-Quality Medical Education Research. J Grad Med Educ. 2016 Jul;8(3):297-303. doi: 10.4300/JGME-D-16-00175.1. PubMed PMID: 27413425.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Discover what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers

Organize results and define exclusion criteria

Synthesize results

Note controversial findings

Summarize

Trying to find out

everything you can about your topic can be daunting

Critical SKILLSInformation

Seeking

Search efficiently

Know what search results

mean

Critical Appraisal

Assess trustworthiness

Assess relevance

Searching for Information• Primary literature

• Secondary literature

• Print/electronic

• Books, Journals

• Scholarly, peer-reviewed, indexed

• Grey literature

• Mainstream

• Social media

Looking for evidence– Primary Studies, unfiltered

– Clinical trials– Randomized Controlled Trials– Multicenter studies

– Secondary, pre-appraised, or filtered– Reviews– Meta-analyses

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Research_design_and_evidence.svghttps://academicguides.waldenu.edu/healthevidence/evidencepyramid

The Search• Select databases

• Keywords, phrases, indexed terms; break topic into specific concepts

• Create a search strategy• Read the article, more than just the abstract

• Look at the article references

• Utilize exclusion criteria to create a reference list

• Refine and narrow search and repeat

Search StrategyUse Boolean Operators to broaden or narrow search: AND, OR, NOT

Set filters, limits

Example search:

CT scan AND head trauma searched as Keywords in PubMed("tomography, x-ray computed"[MeSH Terms] OR ("tomography"[All Fields] AND "x-ray"[All Fields] AND "computed"[All Fields]) OR "x-ray computed tomography"[All Fields] OR ("ct"[All Fields] AND "scan"[All Fields]) OR "ct scan"[All Fields]) AND ("craniocerebral trauma"[MeSH Terms] OR ("craniocerebral"[All Fields] AND "trauma"[All Fields]) OR "craniocerebraltrauma"[All Fields] OR ("head"[All Fields] AND "trauma"[All Fields]) OR "head trauma"[All Fields])

Article/publication type Publication dates Species Language Sex Subject Ages

Compile the Results – Example

McFarland DC, Hamilton JG, Fox R, Holland J. Putting the “Person” in personalized cancer medicine: A systematic review of psychological aspects of targeted therapy. Personalized Med Oncol. 2014;3(8):438–47.

Literature Search Diagram – Example

Evaluating the Potential Use of Modeling and Value-of-Information Analysis for Future Research Prioritization Within the Evidence-Based Practice Center Program [Internet].Methods Future Research Needs Reports, No. 5.Myers E, Sanders GD, Ravi D, et al.Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2011 Jun.

Copyright NoticeNCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

DATABASE SEARCHING

What are your resources?

• Libraries – access to databases, reference books, E-books, print books, E-journals, print journals

• Social media websites, i.e. ResearchGate

• Faculty, Clinicians, researchers

The World of Medical Databases• MEDLINE/PubMed

• Clinical Key

• Web of Science

• Scopus

• Science Direct

• EBSCO Academic Search Elite

• Google Scholar

• CINAHL

• UpToDate

• DynaMed Plus

• Access Medicine

• TRIP

NO ONE DATABASE WILL

HAVE ALL OF THE INFORMATION

THAT YOU NEED FOR YOUR RESEARCH

Database searching• Choose the database

• Choose search terms

• Create search strategy using Boolean operators

• Apply limits

• Use Advanced Search features

Maggio, LA, Tannery, NH, Kanter, SL. AM Last Page: How to perform an effective database search. Acad Med, 2011 Aug:86(8):1057.

National Library of Medicine -- 28 million bibliographic recordsOrganized by MeSH – MEDICAL SUBJECT HEADINGS

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

MeSH organized in “trees”

Indexed Articles

Automatic Term Mapping

MeSH Major Topic

4 Types of MeSH vocabulary terms: Headings

Subheadings

Supplementary Concept Records

Publication Characteristics (or Types)

Create a search strategy using MeSH

– Select MeSH– Type in a term– Click on the term– Select Subheadings

Create a search strategy in PubMed

– Click to add it to your search builder– Add more terms or search PubMed– Look at results

Google ScholarMeta-crawler search engine

Indexes scholarly full text articles and other publications

Grey Literature• Grey literature (or gray literature) are materials and research

produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_literature

• Publications types

• Examples of grey literature: conference abstracts, presentations, proceedings, meeting minutes, regulatory data, unpublished trial data, government publications, reports (such as white papers, working papers, internal documentation), dissertations/theses, patents, and policies and procedures.

Grey LiteratureRecently revised and updated, CADTH’s free online resource for grey literature searching - Grey matters: a practical search tool for evidence-based medicine is now available.

• CADTH website: https://www.cadth.ca/grey-matters

CRITICALLY ANALYZE SEARCH RESULTS

Checklist to evaluate published studies

Critically appraise the evidence for its validity, impact, and applicability

– Is it legitimate?– Is it important?– Can it help?

• Did the study address a focused question?• Did the study use valid methods?• What were the results?• Will the results help me in caring for my

patients?

Consider

• Study population– Representative sampling of target

population– Randomized, non-biased– Informed consent obtained

• Data collection methods– Valid data collection methods– Valid instrument

• Study design– Reproducible– Research methodology valid for

study

• Results – Variables in results accounted for– Results analyzed– Future considerations

Tools• CASP -- https://casp-uk.net/

• JAMA Evidence Critical Appraisal Worksheets

ELEMENTS OF THE BACKGROUND SECTION

Elements of the Background Section

Background

Thesis statement

Research objectives

Summaries of previous

studies

Conclusive statement

Checklist Thesis statement, research question, hypothesis

Specific aims of the research--objectives

Authoritative information on topic; summaries of current research

Relevant background information

Key issues that clearly define the topic and are pertinent to the study – significance of the research

Thorough evaluation of the topic

Conclusive statement

Example

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4362649/pdf/13063_2015_Article_615.pdf

Cerritelli F, Cicchitti L, MartelliM, Barlafante G, Renzetti C, Pizzolorusso G, Lupacchini M, D'Orazio M, Marinelli B, Cozzolino V, Fusilli P, D'InceccoC. Osteopathic manipulative treatment and pain in preterms: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials. 2015 Mar 8;16:84. doi: 10.1186/s13063-015-0615-3.

References1. Paez A. Grey literature: An important resource in systematic reviews. J Evid Based Med. 2017 Dec 21. doi: 10.1111/jebm.12265. [Epubahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29266844.

2. Cerritelli F, Cicchitti L, Martelli M, Barlafante G, Renzetti C, Pizzolorusso, G, Lupacchini M, D'Orazio M, Marinelli B, Cozzolino V, Fusilli P, D'Incecco C. Osteopathic manipulative treatment and pain in preterms: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials. 2015 Mar 8;16:84. doi:10.1186/s13063-015-0615-3. PubMed PMID: 25872943; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4362649.

3. Dudley RA, Frolich A, Robinowitz DL, Talavera JA, Broadhead P, Luft HS. Strategies To Support Quality-based Purchasing: A Review of the Evidence. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2004 Jul. PubMed PMID: 20734506.

4. Haig A, Dozier M. BEME guide no. 3: systematic searching for evidence in medical education--part 2: constructing searches. Med Teach. 2003Sep;25(5):463-84. PubMed PMID: 14522667.

5. Haig A, Dozier M. BEME Guide no 3: systematic searching for evidence in medical education--Part 1: Sources of information. Med Teach. 2003Jul;25(4):352-63. PubMed PMID: 12893544.

6. Glynn, L. A critical appraisal tool for library and information research. Library Hi Tech. 2006 24(3):387-99.

7. Kahn MG. The desktop database dilemma. Acad Med. 1993 Jan;68(1):34-7. PubMed PMID: 8447890.

8. Maggio, LA, Tannery, NH, Kanter, SL. AM Last Page: How to perform an effective database search. Acad Med, 2011 Aug:86(8):1057.

9. McFarland DC, Hamilton JG, Fox R, Holland J. Putting the “Person” in personalized cancer medicine: A systematic review of psychological aspects of targeted therapy. Personalized Med Oncol. 2014;3(8):438–47.

Thank You