Physician Scientist Pathway:
MCW Libraries Overview
Liz Suelzer, MLIS
esuelzer@mcw.edu | 414.955.8326
User Education/Reference Librarian
www.mcw.edu/mcwlibraries.htm
Objectives:
• Strengthen literature searching
skills
• Introduce you to citation
management
• Raise awareness of MCW
Libraries’ resources, including
additional training.
Outline:
• MCW Libraries Website & Resources
– PubMed
– Scopus
– Google Scholar
• Group exercise
• RefWorks Demonstration
MCW Libraries
• http://www.mcw.edu/mcwlibraries.htm
How can we help you?
• Database expertise
– Not sure which resource to use? Ask us!
• Get access to information
– Can’t find it in the library? We can get it for you!
• Technical support
– RefWorks & Write-N-Cite
– PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, etc.
The Literature Research Process
Step 1
Define your research topic or question
Step 2
Describe your topic using keywords
Step 3
Perform searches in article database(s):
PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, etc.
Step 4
Evaluate search results
Step 5
Locate resources:
Step 6
Cite articles in your papers with RefWorks
Step 1
Define your research topic or question
• Think about the “PICO” model
– Patient/population; intervention; comparison;
outcome
Vaccinations and health care workers
vs.
Will vaccinating healthcare workers
against influenza prevent patient
infection?
PICO
Will vaccinating healthcare workers against
influenza prevent patient infection?
Patient/Population
Healthcare workers
Intervention
Vaccination
Comparison
Outcome
Patient infection
Step 2
Describe your topic using keywords
• Related terms
– Narrower
– Broader
• Synonyms
• Controlled vocabulary (Medline uses MeSH)
Vaccinations, immunization,
immunotherapy, influenza, flu, virus,
H1N1, H3N2
Step 2
Describe your topic using keywords
• What is MeSH?
– Controlled vocabulary used by PubMed/MEDLINE
– Provides a consistent way to describe topics
• Brain Injury
– MeSH terms are applied by subject specialists
(people!) who scan each article
Step 3
Perform searches in article database(s):
PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, etc.
• Advance search techniques
– Boolean operators
– Truncation
– Phrase searching
Boolean Operators
•
Used to define the relationship between words or groups of words
AND
Vaccinations AND
Measles
OR
Cervical OR Uterine
NOT
Mouse NOT Rabbits
()
Vaccinations AND
(Measles OR Rubella)
Truncation
• A searching technique used in databases in which a
word ending is replaced by a symbol.
Surg* = surgery, surgeries, surgical, surgeon,
surgeons, etc.
Phrase searching
• Search an exact group of words in an exact order
“Medical College of Wisconsin”
Step 3
Perform searches in article database(s):
PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, etc.
• What is PubMed?
– Free search engine
– Contains abstracts of articles from journals in the
fields of life science and biomedical sciences.
– Many citations are indexed with MeSH terms
Step 3
Perform searches in article database(s):
PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, etc.
• What is Ovid MEDLINE?
– Subscription search engine
– Contains just about everything that is in PubMed
– Uses different search techniques and search
algorithms than PubMed
Step 3
Perform searches in article database(s):
PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, etc.
• Will vaccinating healthcare workers against
influenza prevent patient infection?
Step 3
Perform searches in article database(s):
PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, etc.
• Break apart your search into each component,
search them separately, then combine using
advance search techniques.
– Health care workers
– Influenza vaccine
– Patient infection
The Literature Research Process
Step 1
Define your research topic or question
Step 2
Describe your topic using keywords
Step 3
Perform searches in article database(s):
PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, etc.
Step 4
Evaluate search results
Step 5
Locate resources:
Step 6
Cite articles in your papers with RefWorks
Create a search in Scopus on the topic “Will vaccinating healthcare
workers against influenza prevent patient infection?”
• Health care workers
• Influenza vaccine
• Patient infection
1. Create a search in Google Scholar on the same topic. Play
around with different keywords to see how your results change.
2. In Scholar, turn on MCW Libraries links and links to Import to
RefWorks. View the Google Scholar video to learn how.
1.
2.
Using someone’s research topic at your table, identify at least
one MeSH term that is related to the topic.
Run a search in PubMed and send at least one citation to
RefWorks. View the RefWorks: Importing from PubMed video to
learn how.
Questions? Ask a librarian!
asklib@mcw.edu
414.955.8302
Google MCW Libraries Ask