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OSOT 547

WORKSHOP: Getting Organized for Research

Questions?:  Post them on this Google Doc

ACTIVITY ON May 5

Please use the above worksheet to guide the following steps:

  • Discover search terms
  • Create a logical strategy
  • Refine the results
  • Select relevant papers and save citations
  • Save search strategy

Resources

BACKGROUND RESOURCES

Background information answers questions that elicit more information such as What, Why, How.  Check out the different links to secondary sources that answer these questions.

GREY LITERATURE

This refers to information and research that is created and published by entities whose main business is not publishing.  For example, government departments, health authorities, universities etc.

Validation studies of tests, measures, or surveys can provide valuable background information.   Another useful tip is to find which research projects have used a similar tool to the one you will be using. See the following tutorials to learn the search methods in the different databases for finding these.

Research Help

Need help? Please don't hesitate to contact your cohort's librarian.

Your librarian can help with: developing your search; knowledge synthesis projects (literature reviews, systematic and scoping reviews, etc.); finding books, articles, and other information sources; managing your references and data; and more!

For quick research help, you can also contact Woodward Library via email and in-person, or use the AskAway chat service.

Photograph of Rachael Bradshaw, UBC librarian    Rachael Bradshaw: Vancouver

    Email me | Make an appointment with me

    (604) 822-2884

 

Photograph of Aubrey Geyer, UBC librarian   Aubrey Geyer: Fraser Valley (Surrey)

   Email me | Make an appointment with me

   (604) 827-0578

 

Kristy Hancock portrait   Kristy Hancock: Northern (Prince George)

   Email me | Make an appointment with me

Background Information

Setting Up Automatic Alerts for New Research

On most academic databases, you can set up an alert that will notify you by email if new publications match a certain search you have run. You can do this from an existing saved search, or you can run a new search. You may want to run a more specific version of your main research searches (for example, searching your most crucial concept's keywords in title&abstract only, rather than all fields/multipurpose) to make sure that you're seeing relevant material and not flooded with maybe-matches. Note that setting up an alert with any platform requires you to set up a personal account (separate from your CWL) with that platform, the same way you would if saving searches.

  • OVID (Medline and Embase):
    • At the bottom of the search history, beside "Save All," is a link to "Create Auto-Alert."
    • Give your alert a title; select a timeframe-- the default "On Database Update" will check for new papers every few days, but you can choose to get a summary of new items once a week; give your alert an email subject line that'll make sense to you.
    • Select a report type (recommendation is an option that includes both records and a "display results" link).
    • Click save!
    • You can edit the alert from the "View Saved" link that takes you to your saved searches as well.
  • EBSCOhost (CINAHL and PsycInfo):
    • Above the search history, the "Saved Searches / Alerts" link is used both to save searches and to set up alerts.
    • Name your search strategy something familiar!
    • The default option to 'save search as' is "Save Search (Permanent)"; change this to "Alert"
    • You can manage alerts in your EBSCO account's Folders, under "Saved Alerts"