HINARI/E-Resources and Internet Searching (module 1.2)

1. HINARI/E-Resources and Internet Searching(module 1.2)

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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. Electronic Library Resources • Any library or information resources that can be accessed electronically, e.g. • electronic journals • scholarly databases • electronic books • hybrid digital collections • Internetgateways and search engines • Free or fee-based access

6. 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/:

7. Types of Electronic Resources • Academic • Refereed journals • Review journals • Bulletins • Non-academic • Magazines • Newspapers

8. Academic 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

9. Review journals Example: 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. Internet Search tools • Which search tools are needed? • Gateways • Databases • Search Engines

13. Gateway • a node or network that serves as an entrance to another network • organize information in a structured way in general or subject categories • Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com • WHO A-Z health topics list http://www.who.int/topics/en/ • Essential Health Links http://www.healthnet.org/essential-links/ • HINARI/AGORA/OARE

14. 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 17 million citationshttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/

15. 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 • search engine options • Google http://www.google.com • Google Scholar (more focused) http://www.scholar.google.com • Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com/

16. 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

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

18. Why is effective searching important? • There are a huge number of resources online • Google claims it searches >4 billion web pages • We need to make effective use of • electricity • computers • bandwidth • time • money • training

19. 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

20. Planning a Search Strategy • Define your information need • Choose your search terms • Decide which sources to use • Find out how the search tool functions • Run your search • Review and refine you search Note: 1-3 can be done without a computer *Complete #1 and 2 on paper for a Google Search

21. 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

22. 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?

23. 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

24. 3. Decide which sources to use What 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. Boolean AND example

29. Boolean example AND results

30. 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.

31. AND 3 terms results

32. 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

33. Renal OR Kidney results

34. 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

35. 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”

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. Advanced options

42. Advanced search results

43. This is the end of Module 1 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 09 2008