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INFORMATION LITERACY :
EDUCATION: TUTORIALS:
Information Literacy Toolkit
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Information Literacy Toolkit
Department of the Navy
Chief Information Officer
http://www.doncio.navy.mil/iltoolkit/
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Overview
Consider the following:
A young Marine family is being evicted by a landlord who claims he is
within his legal rights. Unless that family knows how to seek information
to confirm or disprove his claim, they will have to accept the landlords
expert opinion.
A Naval Postgraduate School student researching knowledge management found
over 2,000,000 links on the Web. Most of these only mentioned knowledge
management in passing. Because she did not know how to use proximity
operators to narrow the search, the student had to look through a large
number of links and settled for what substantive information she had time
to find.
A DON civilian heard from a co-worker that under the Navy Marine Corps
Intranet (NMCI) he would no longer have the computer capabilities he
currently has. This information conflicted with what he understood. He was
uncertain how to find an authoritative source about NMCI to validate the
information.
These stories illustrate a basic fact. There is no lack of information in
the world, but the skills needed to search, select, evaluate, and use the
information can vary from total lack of awareness and skills, to literacy
in these skills. How we solve the problem of lack of awareness will depend
upon our ability to embrace a basic new competency Information Literacy.
Information Literacy (IL) is a set of information and knowledge age skills
that enable individuals to recognize what information is needed when, and
how to locate, evaluate, use, and effectively communicate it. The
information literacy gap is the space between availability of information
and an individuals ability to access it, understand it, and apply it.
IL initiates, sustains, and extends lifelong learning, which enhances the
individuals effectiveness in the workplace. IL skills are critical to
dealing with the daily barrage of information, and the broad array of
technologies and tools to search, organize and analyze results, and
communicate and integrate them for decision-making. It is estimated that
the average person spends 150 hours per year looking for information.
Increasing IL skills will enable Naval personnel to fully exploit the
technological advantage of the new millennium. These skills include:
Understanding the flow of information
Assessing and selecting appropriate resources for information
Searching and locating information
Evaluating and organizing information
Integrating and documenting information
The IL virtual tool that is offered here complements the aggressive work
underway across the Department of the Navy to become a knowledge-centric
organization and achieve knowledge superiority in this new virtual
knowledge world.
The IL Index will provide a breakdown of the topics included in the
toolkit. You might wish to scan those topics or go directly to Getting
Started
Related Resources
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Information Literacy Gap (.ppt) 1.38MB
http://www.doncio.navy.mil/iltoolkit/
Downloads/Information-Literacy_Gap.ppt
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A shorter URL for the above link:
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http://tinyurl.com/6ln549w
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Information Literacy Presentation(.ppt) 4.65MB
http://www.doncio.navy.mil/iltoolkit/
Downloads/Information-Literacy_Presentation.ppt
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A shorter URL for the above link:
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http://tinyurl.com/6pd22b9
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Getting Started
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This toolkit and tutorial were developed to allow a learning process to
occur, so that the Information Literacy (IL) skills needed can be
identified and mastered. Each module in the toolkit is designed toward
achieving this goal. The first step is to self assess and learn what areas
should be targeted for further study. Each individual can assess their
strengths and weaknesses in the area of Information Literacy, build on
existing strengths, and correct weaknesses on the road to becoming
information literate.
Following the Self Assessment is the actual tutorial to assist you in your
Information Literacy journey. The Introduction to the Tutorial section,
Welcome to the Information Society, and the Internet Primer provide basic
information about the Internet and explore the different types of search
tools available and methods for searching. History of the Internet
highlights the major events that led to development of the Internet and
its use. Search techniques for beginning and advanced users are provided,
and related resources are given. Information Ethics includes information
on copyright, plagiarism, filtering information and privacy. The section
on Information Cost and Value discusses the value of information, and
includes examples and formulas on how to determine return on investment.
Each section of the tutorial also includes related resources for further
reading and information.
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Finding Information Online is focused on finding information on the Web
that specifically relates to the potential information needs of Department
of the Navy users. Both Search and Searching Resources offer invaluable
tips on how to find the information you are looking for on the Web. A key
component of being information literate in the 21st century is developing
an understanding of how to use libraries most effectively, as covered in
the section on Library Literacy. The format for books has become more
complex as some are also available in digital or recorded (audio) format.
Books will help you find books from inexpensive and unusual sources, and
in a variety of formats. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reviews details
of the FOIA, and compares the FOIA with the Privacy Act. Search techniques
for beginning and advanced users, the use of search engines, and related
resources are given in Searching Resources. Searching for Defense
information and biomedical information are among the topics also covered.
Review the one that meets your area of interest. Evaluating Information
includes critical thinking, computer hoaxes and urban legends, and how to
evaluate Web sites. Using Information provides some general user
guidelines and Netiquette, and information on security, viruses, and how
to cite electronic resources. Scan this section or the Information
Literacy Toolkit Index to get a broad overview of the topics addressed in
this comprehensive listing of sources.
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Types of Information focuses on where to find specific information.
Reference and Research provides many sources for online dictionaries,
handbooks, encyclopedias, and other standard reference material. Locating
People is the place to go for people-related information - addresses,
phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. E-mail Lists and Newsgroups will
help you find out where to go to join automatic distribution sources for
information on a variety of interest areas. Gray Literature assists in
tapping into a wealth of information that is generally not going to be
found through standard indexing sources. Technical Manuals provides the
latest information on where to find engineering and technical documents,
while the section on Specifications and Standards provides information on
both the evolution of standards, and issuing bodies and their available
specifications and standards. Finding government information on the
Internet can be a challenge since there is so much of it and it covers so
many areas. Depending on your needs, check out the sections on U.S.
Government Sites and Documents , Military and Naval Internet Sites, or
International Organizations and Foreign Governments. Subjects offers a
comprehensive sample of sites, broken down by subject, with actual Web
site addresses (links).
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The Virtual Communications module of the IL Toolkit addresses
communications issues and opportunities arising in the virtual world of
work. The Introduction provides an overview of changes underway and the
following sections begin to address the questions:
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Why do we use Virtual Communications?
Who do we communicate with?
Where do we communicate?
What technologies are available?
How do we use Virtual Communications tools?
What should we be aware of in communicating with people of other cultures?
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The Knowing module offers the opportunity to explore the way we use our
thinking skills to process incoming data and information, build
understanding, and drive change within ourselves and in our external
environment. Each of us needs to use our skills to fully process and
connect the almost exponentially increasing data and information in this
new virtual world.
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An alternative way to start is to go directly to the Frequently Asked
Questions and get down to the nitty-gritty questions that people ask about
the Internet and Information Literacy. But, whether you read the FAQs
early or late in your journey, you will want to make sure to read them for
a solid overview.
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The Glossary provides definitions and concepts to facilitate learning. The
Resources section provides additional resources related to the different
modules of the toolkit.
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To promote the development of information literacy skills nationally, the
Pacific Bell/UCLA Initiative for 21st Century Literacies commissioned the
production of E-Literate, a short video (transcript) You will need
Windows Media Player to view these videos. Go to
www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp to download
the latest version of this software. E-Literateis the property of
University of California Regents who grant permission to the Department of
the Navy to include E-Literatein the Department of the Navy's Information
Literacy Toolkit, including a synchronized transcript. Copyright
permission is granted for all activities that are not
profit-making.*E-Literate was produced by the Pacific Bell/UCLA Initiative
for 21st Century Literacies at the UCLA Graduate School of Education &
Information Studies (www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu). As of January
2003, nearly 6,500 copies have been distributed to libraries, schools,
colleges, and community centers. E-Literate would not have been possible
without a generous gift from SBC that was used to form the Pacific
Bell/UCLA Initiative in Spring 2000.
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The tools are at your fingertips. It's time to get started. Use them and
prosper!
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Table of Contents
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SELF ASSESSMENT
Introduction
Self-Assessment Quiz
Related Resources
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TUTORIAL
Introduction
Internet Primer
History of the Internet
Information Ethics
Information Cost & Value
Related Resources
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EXPLORING ONLINE
Overview
Search
Library Literacy
Books
Freedom of Info Act (FOIA)
FOIA Documents
Searching Resources
Evaluating Information
Using Information
Related Resources
Bibliography
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FINDING INFO ONLINE
Overview
Reference & Research
Locating People
E-mail Lists & Newsgroups
Gray Literature
Technical Manuals
Specifications & Standards
US Gov't Sites(civ) & Docs
Defense Information
Military/Naval Info
Int'l Org & Foreign Gov'ts
Subject Areas
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VIRTUAL COMMS
Introduction
Getting Started
Why do we use VC?
Who?
Where?
What Technologies?
How do we use VC?
VC Matrix
Related Resources
F.A.Q.
GLOSSARY
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RELATED RESOURCES
General
Self-Assessment
Tutorial
Exploring Online
Virtual Comms
Knowing
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SITE INDEX
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ABOUT THE TOOLKIT
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Site Index
Overview
Getting Started
Self Assessment
Introduction
Self-Assessment Quiz
Related Resources
Tutorial
Introduction
Internet Primer
The Internet and the World Wide Web
Common Terms
Search Tools
Internet Bulletin Boards
History of the Internet
History
Additional Resources
Information Ethics
Introduction
Copyright
Plagiarism
Filtering
Privacy
Related Resources
Information Cost and Value
Determining the Value of Information
Return on Investment (ROI) In Information
Cost (fee) Versus Free Information
References and Additional Resources
Related Resources
General Tutorial Sites
Academic Institution Tutorial Sites
Other Tutorial Sites
Exploring Online
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Overview
Search
Search Engines
Meta Search Engines
Directories
Specialized Portals (Vortals)
Specialized Search Tools
Library Literacy
Locating Libraries
Federal Libraries
Defense Libraries
Naval Libraries
College and University Libraries
Foreign Libraries
Using Libraries
Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs)
MyLibrary
Reference Assistance
Interlibrary Loan
Electronic Books
Electronic Journals
Commercial Databases
Office and Project Libraries
FYI about Libraries
Electronic Information Issues
Technology Trends Impacting Libraries
Managing Personal and Project Libraries
Database Development
Database Format
Database Cataloging Procedures
References
10 Commandments of Database Management
Appendix A: Recomended Database Formats
Appendix B: Suggested Abbreviations
Books
Purchase or Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
New/Used Books
Publishers and Book Reviews
Out of Print (OP), Rare and Antiquarian Books
Technical Books
Electronic Books (E-books)
Recorded or Audio Books
Interlibrary Loans
Additional Resources
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Your Rights to Federal Records
Excerpts
Additional Resources
Searching Resources
Introduction
Comparison of Search Engines/Directories
Major Search Engines
Meta Search Engines or Metacrawlers
Directories of Searchable Databases
(Invisible/Deep or Hidden Web)
Virtual Libraries
The Invisible Web
The Latest in Search Tools
Using a Search Engine to Search the Internet
How Search Engines Work
Searching Strategy
Basic Search Approach
Search Engine Features
Subject Specific Searching:
Bio-Medical
Defense
E-Mail Lists/Newsgroups
Gray Literature
Government Documents
Locating People
Specifications and Standards
Technical Manuals
Evaluating Information
Introduction
Critical Thinking
Evaluating and Validating Information Sources
Identifying Computer Hoaxes
Related Resources
Using Information
Introduction
Netiquette and User Guidelines
Security
Virus Alerts and Warnings
Citing Electronic Resources
Related Resources
Related Resources
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Finding Information
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Overview
Reference & Research
Naval Libraries
Articles (sources for finding articles including many with full-text)
Other (Mostly Commercial)
Locating People
DoD
US Army
US Navy
US Marine Corps
US Air Force
Federal
Telephone Numbers - General
White Pages
Yellow Pages
Reverse Directories
EMail
Postal and ZIP Codes
E-mail Lists and Newsgroups
Listings of Listservs
Usenet Newsgroups
Gray Literature
Grey or Gray Literature
Definitions and More Explanations
Technical Report and Periodical Literature Databases
Additional Resources
Technical Manuals
Specifications and Standards
Major Standards Organizations
Getting Specifications and Standards
Sources for Government Specifications and Standards
Sources for Non-Government Specifications and Standards
Fee-based Sources for Specifications and Standards
Related Resources
US Government Sites (Civilian) and Documents
Finding Agency Web sites Easily
Search Engines - Limiting by Domain
By Topic
Defense Information
Military/Naval Information
Directories and Guides For US Military Internet Resources
Libraries and Research Organizations
General Sources
US Navy Sites
Naval Personnel Information and Statistics
Other Guides To Defense Information
Defense Information
Ways to Proceed
General
Military
Government and Civilian Organizations
Military Bibliographies
Military Music
Ships
Weapons and Equipment
International/Foreign Governments
Foreign Governments
International Organizations
International Relations
Diplomatic Information
Subject Areas
Abbreviations & Acronyms
Awards & Decorations
Bibliographies, Military
Business and Acquisition Sites
Customs & Traditions
Defense Information
Education
Employment and Careers
Energy & Environment
Foreign Gov't, Intl & Diplomatic Rel
Forms
History
Housing
Law & Legal
Maps
Medicine and Health
Biomedical
Modeling and Simulation
News [DoD & Services]
Photographs, Images and Graphics
Policy and Doctrine
Recreation
Regulations, Instructions & Directives
Safety
Science and Technology
Scientific and Technical Literature: An Introduction
Science and Technology - General
Aerospace Engineering
Chemistry
Computer Science
Engineering
Material Science
Mathematics
Meteorology/Climatology
Operations Research and Statistics
Patents and Trademarks
Physics
Travel
Weapons and Equipment
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Virtual Communications
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Introduction
Definition of Virtual Communications
The Changing Organization
What Is Included?
Who Is It For?
The Future
Getting Started
Why do we use VC?
Purpose of VC
Seven Functional Uses
Information Sharing and Knowledge Exchange
Scheduling
Collaborating and Team Work
Decision Support
Document Sharing
Project Management
E-Training
Who?
Group Dynamics
Know Your Audience
Relationships
Networks
Social Capital
Value of Communities
Customer Communities
Communities of Practice
Communities of Interest
Working with Teams
Number of People in a Group
Where?
Virtual Dimensions
Place
Time
Space
Distance
Sequence of Communications
What Technologies?
Types of VC Tools
Supporting Technologies
Discerning Among Categories of Tools
Assessment Checklist
How do we use VC?
Types of VC Tools
Competencies for VC
Communications Best Practices
Language
Before, During and After
Preparation Before VC
Creating a Level Playing Field
Facilitation
Follow-Up and AARs
Logistics and Resources
Costs and Benefits of VC
VC Matrix
Related Resources
FAQ
Glossary
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Related Resources
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General
Self-Assessment
Tutorial
Exploring Online
Virtual Communications
Knowing
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About the Toolkit
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CONTENT SAMPLE:
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Types of Information: Searching Biomedical Information
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Key Topics
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The Literature
Accessing the Literature
Searching
Defining the Question
Planning a Search
Reviewing Search Results
Refining your Search
Evaluating Search Results
Related Resources
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Locating specific medical information or performing a comprehensive search
of the biomedical literature is a very specialized area of librarianship,
but with the advent of the Internet, now the layperson or busy health care
professional can also have some success in searching the vast body of
information that has become available electronically. Being aware of the
scope of the literature and learning about some basic search techniques
and strategies can help the average consumer be more informed about his or
her care, as well as increase the ability of health care workers to stay
abreast of new developments in their fields.
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Dedicated medical librarians in the military services provide frontline
service not only to the caregivers at hospitals and clinics around the
globe to help them make good decisions, they also provide consumer health
information services to patients at those facilities who may have
questions regarding their conditions and treatments. This section is
provided by Alice Hadley, medical librarian at the Naval Hospital in Guam,
and is based on her more than twenty years as a certified medical
librarian. In the Related Resources section, you will find some of her
favorite links listed, as well as the references referred to in this
section. You can find many of the resources discussed here, as well as
finding guides, pathfinders, and bibliographies prepared by librarians at
Naval medical centers, hospitals, and clinics.
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By reading through this section, you can gain awareness of the scope and
coverage of biomedical literature, and improve your ability to formulate
answerable questions, recognize citation sources, and refine your searches
also known as panning for gold!
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The Literature
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First, you should become familiar with the scope of biomedical literature
and the major, key resources.
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Index Medicus is the print version of the index to medical literature; it
covers journal articles from 1879 to the present. Generally, the Index can
be found only in medical and university libraries.
MEDLINE, the first major electronic database in the world, is the
information source for Index Medicus and is searchable in its own right.
MEDLINE covers 1966 to the present and contains article citations from
most of the worlds medical journals in all languages. The citations are
created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, international partners,
and cooperating professional organizations; abstracts are included from
about 1975. The subject coverage is basic biomedical research and the
clinical sciences, including nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine,
pharmacy, and allied health sciences. Life sciences that are vital to
biomedical practitioners and researchers are also included, such as
aspects of environmental science, biology, plant and animal sciences.
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Abridged Index Medicus (AIM) is a subset of MEDLINE containing citations
from the top 117 English language medical journals, and is solely an
electronic database. Most small medical libraries (such as many of the DoD
libraries) hold the majority of the AIM journals. By limiting a search to
AIM journals there is a good chance needed articles would be in the local
library and one could avoid having to wait for copies to be borrowed from
another library.
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PubMed is a World Wide Web retrieval service developed by the National
Library of Medicine (NLM). It provides access free of charge to MEDLINE,
and also contains links to the full-text versions of articles at
participating publishers Web sites. In addition, PubMed provides access
and links to the integrated molecular biology databases maintained by the
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). These databases
contain DNA and protein sequences, genome mapping data, and 3-D protein
structures. Additional NLM bibliographic databases, such as AIDSLINE, will
be added to PubMed.
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EMBASE is the European equivalent of MEDLINE, and is published by the
commercial publisher, Elsevier. There have been numerous studies comparing
coverage of EMBASE and MEDLINE. While the degree of overlap can vary
according to topic, the overall overlap is about 34%, so that a really
comprehensive literature search should be performed in both systems.
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There are also more specialized biomedical or related database systems to
be aware of. To name just a few: International Pharmaceutical Abstracts;
Drug Information Full Text; Database of Abstracts of Reviews of
Effectiveness; Educational Resources Information Center; Cumulative Index
to Nursing and Allied Health Literature; and PsycINFO. CANCERLIT, produced
by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, is a very important bibliographic
database that contains more than 1.5 million citations and abstracts from
over 4,000 sources including biomedical journals, books, reports, and
theses. It dates back to the 1960s and is updated with more than 8,000
records every month.
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Accessing the Literature
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There are various methods of access to this vast body of information.
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NLM Gateway. The National Library of Medicine maintains an online gateway
that allows users to search in multiple databases or systems. The current
gateway covers MEDLINE, PubMed, OldMEDLINE, and numerous other databases,
such as AIDS Meetings. There are fact sheets about the various databases
describing coverage and search tips at the NLM Web site. (See Related
Resources).
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Commercial publishers also provide access to biomedical literature, but
charge subscription fees. Many of their systems can be found in libraries,
and some have been licensed for desktop access by users affiliated with a
parent organization. Various commercial systems have been licensed for
access by Naval medical personnel who should check with their local
medical library. These commercial systems provide additional ways to
search MEDLINE with their proprietary search engines, as well as other
information resources. Ovid Technologies is such a commercial system that
offers both simple and advanced searching; KnowledgeFinder offers fuzzy
logic searching to present most likely citations first. MedMatrix is a Web
site that includes evaluations of the various commercial interfaces to
MEDLINE, as well as providing peer evaluation of Web sites of interest to
physicians. (See Related Resources).
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It is possible to search biomedical information manuallyalso known as hand
searching. Usually, hand searching would be restricted to key journals in
a particular topic area, and is used to overcome deficiencies in indexing
or in database coverage. A manual with guidelines on hand searching is
available from the Cochrane Collaboration, an international not-for-profit
organization dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about
the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide. The Collaboration
and its various Centers maintain a master list of hand searched journals
and topics covered. Before embarking on a manual search, it is a good idea
to check to see if any of the Cochrane Groups have already searched your
key journals (see Related Resources). Manual searching is a costly and
time intensive process, and may require travel to libraries in a variety
of locations to access the necessary journals. A review of key journals
can be done at the level of the contents page, the abstract, or the whole
article depending on resource constraints, and should be systematically
conducted and documented. Think carefully before you decide to do manual
searching!
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Searching
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The basic principles of online database searching apply to biomedical
information searching as well. Carrying out a search for a research
project may require more time and preparation in comparison to a
non-research search that would be briefer, and would end after fewer
iterations. Developing literature searching skills means developing the
ability to search in a purposeful and systematic manner through the range
of literature relevant to a particular subject area. Librarians and expert
searchers follow a series of steps that may become reiterative as search
returns are evaluated. Inexperienced searchers should not be frustrated by
unsatisfactory returns, but rather view the search process as an iterative
one.
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Defining the Question
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The first step is to develop and frame the search question. What are you
looking for, and will you know you have the answer when you find it? Even
if you are not a health care professional or medical librarian, you might
find it useful to note some factors, often considered in framing a
question, that are drawn from Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM). Those factors
might include: 1) the population, 2) the intervention/exposure/prognostic
factor being considered, 3) the main alternative being compared, and 4)
the hoped for outcome to accomplish, measure, improve or affect. If
factors 3 and 4 dont apply, perhaps the question really pertains to a need
for background information or clinical knowledge, such as what is this
disorder? What causes it? What treatment options exist? And so forth. In
addition, there might a foreground question, such as, in people with
obsessive-compulsive disorder, would treatment x bring about enough
control to be worth potential side effects? Foreground questions might
have three or four components.
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Here is an example of a question developed by considering the foreground
and background elements with the possible search terms in capital letters.
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Patient or Population = patient with DIABETES MELLITUS
Intervention = TIGHT CONTROL
Outcomes = several, including MORTALITY, HEART DISEASE, etc.
Comparison = STANDARD MANAGEMENT
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Question: In a recently diagnosed diabetic, does tight control of blood
glucose influence long-term outcomes such as mortality, heart disease,
etc.?
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Planning a Search
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In planning a search, five areas should be considered in building the
search statement and strategy: 1) What subject areas and specialties will
you search? 2) When you find the answer what will it be a book, an
article, a number, a picture? 3) Which databases or systems will you
search? 4) What special words or vocabulary define the subject area? 5)
How should you phrase your question to get the kind of information (also
known as recall or search hits) you want from the database you are
searching?
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In defining the disciplines to include in your search, it may help to find
out who else writes about your subject, or perhaps you already have a
relevant citation you would like to expand on. Also, consider if you
should look in peripheral topic areas. Review the scope and content
coverage of the key databases. What kinds of literature do authors on your
subject publish in peer reviewed journals? Internet sites? Books by
publishing houses? Grey literature (or unpublished materials)? How will
you locate these materials, and what services can your local library
supply?
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Perhaps the most difficult part of planning the search is developing the
search statement and selecting the best keywords or subject concepts and
terms. Medical Subject Headings or MeSH is the National Library of
Medicines controlled vocabulary thesaurus and is used to index articles in
MEDLINE. The MeSH is arranged both in alphabetical and hierarchical order
with more than 19,000 headings, and has broader-than, narrower-than, and
related terms and links. These links provide a hierarchical structure of
information and permit searching at various levels of specificity from
narrower to broader.
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The MeSH is mapped to the Unified Medical Language Meta thesaurus. This
helps enable retrieval software to interpret user queries and identify
which databases contain relevant information. The tree structure of MeSH
allows you to explode your search to get more comprehensive coverage of a
subject area. This means that you can search for a keyword plus all its
narrower terms simultaneously. For example, if you EXPLODE the keyword
search, DIABETES MELLITUS, you can pick up all narrower terms, such as
Diabetic Coma, Diabetic Angiopathies, etc.
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Using Boolean logic and operators in your search strategy will help
broaden or refine your searches. AND will narrow your search by retrieving
only documents that contain every one of the keywords you enter. The more
you enter, the narrower your search becomes. Use the OR operator with
keywords that are similar or synonymous; the more keywords you enter, the
more documents you will retrieve. Using NOT or AND NOT limits your search
by returning only your first keyword but not the second, even if the first
word appears in that document, too. Nesting, or enclosing search terms in
parentheses, is an effective way to combine several search statements into
one search statement. Use parentheses to separate keywords when you are
using more than one operator and three or more keywords.
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Reviewing Search Results
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Skim the elements of the citations retrieved and note other vocabulary
terms and key words in the abstract and look for terms that look like they
would improve your searchs recall. Note the authors and affiliations for
additional sources to search. Pick out the key articles that come closest
to answering your question.
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Also, be sure to note that citations retrieved from MEDLINE or PubMed
searches will include identification numbers: MEDLINE unique identifier
number (UI) or the PubMed identification number (PMID). These numbers are
essential for locating or obtaining copies of the full articles cited.
(Example: Steele JC. Progressive supranuclear palsy. Historical notes. J
Neural Transm Suppl. 1994; 42:3-14. PMID: 7964694).
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Refining Your Search
.
If necessary, refine your search, and try again! Review your search
statement. Should you expand or limit your search? Did you get zero or
3,000 citations? Were half of them in languages you cant read? Did it
include animal studies when you only wanted humans? Look for new terms
that look like they would improve your searchs recall. For more leads,
check the references cited in relevant articles, and manually search some
printed indexes, bibliographies, or issues of relevant journals. Use a
citation database for papers that cite seminal articles and follow those
leads. And finally, revise your search statement. Add new terms gleaned
from previous results, remove dead end terms that added nothing to your
search or led you off in the wrong direction, and search the controlled
vocabulary to turn up helpful headings you had not thought of, did not
realize would be helpful, or did not know existed.
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Evaluating Search Results
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Finally, evaluate your search results. Are you still finding new subject
headings or text words to add to your search statement? If so, keep on
searching! When you no longer find new terms, move on to collecting the
source material and start reading. Your final search statement will be
your gold standard. Take advantage of thee automatic current awareness
capabilities in biomedical databases and run your final search statement
periodically against the same databases to catch any new articles on your
topic. For health care professionals, few things are as embarrassing as
not knowing about the great new article on your topic that everyone else
in the field is talking about. For the patient or consumer, the most
current information on a topic can be just as valuable.
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This has been a very brief summary of approaches to searching biomedical
information. Why bother with this search process? Better formulated search
questions get more relevant answers, help you better understand your own
basic question, and in the end will help identify a good, relevant path of
sources. This saves time, and sometimes, even money! As you can now
imagine, when very precise or absolutely exhaustive information is needed,
consumers as well as health care professionals must often turn to the
professionals in medical literature searching for their services. The
literature is vast and new interfaces and search tools appear all the
time. While you can develop and hone your search skillsand this tutorial
is a first step to doing thatthere will still be times when you should
seek assistance at a medical library.
.
.
Related Resources
.
Acronyms
http://www.geocities.com/~mlshams/acronym/acr.htm/
Acronyms and initialisms for health information resources compiled by
Marie-Lise Shams.
Bioethics
http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/
The National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature site.
Cochrane Collaboration
http://www.cochrane.org
Describes the activities and information services of this international
association for making up-do-date information about the effects of
healthcare available worldwide.
Cochrane Handsearching Manual
http://www.cochrane.org/cochrane/hsearch.htm
Covers guidelines on manual or hand search of biomedical literature.
Hardin MetaDirectory
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/
A metadirectory site by the Hardin Library, University of Iowa, listing
the best health resources on the Internet.
MedExplorer
http://www.medexplorer.com
A medical search engine for Internet accessible resources.
MedHunt
http://www.hon.ch/
Another medical search engine for Internet accessible resources.
MedMatrix
http://www.medmatrix.org
This site contains evaluations of Web sites of interest to physicians, and
also of the various MEDLINE providers.
Koerner, Susan M., Medical miracles on the Internet, Guam Pacific Daily
News, January 19,2001
http://www.guampdn.com
Article about Alice Hadley, librarian at the Naval Hospital, Guam, and
Internet searching.
MEDLINE plus Health Information
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus
Patient or consumer health information resources assembled by the National
Library of Medicine. Provides links to consumer level information on more
than 400 disease and disorder topics, and drugs. Also provides links to
medical dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference sources.
Pre-formatted MEDLINE searches to find the latest research are also
provided.
National Library of Medicine Factsheets
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsheets.htm
Factsheets about NLM databases and searching.
National Library of Medicine FAQs
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/faqmed.html
FAQs on how to search the databases accessible via the NLM Gateway.
National Library of Medicine Gateway
http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd
Access point for searching MEDLINE, PubMed, and other systems.
.
.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
[log in to unmask]
http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com
Net-Gold
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html
Index: http://tinyurl.com/myxb4w
http://groups.google.com/group/net-gold?hl=en
General Internet & Print Resources
http://guides.temple.edu/general-internet
COUNTRIES
http://guides.temple.edu/general-country-info
EMPLOYMENT
http://guides.temple.edu/EMPLOYMENT
TOURISM
http://guides.temple.edu/tourism
DISABILITIES
http://guides.temple.edu/DISABILITIES
INDOOR GARDENING
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/
Educator-Gold
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/
K12ADMINLIFE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12AdminLIFE/
The Russell Conwell Learning Center Research Guide:
THE COLLEGE LEARNING CENTER
http://tinyurl.com/yae7w79
Nina Dillard's Photographs on Net-Gold
http://tinyurl.com/36qd2o
and also http://gallery.me.com/neemers1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neemers/
Twitter: davidpdillard
Bushell, R. & Sheldon, P. (eds),
Wellness and Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit,
Place, New York: Cognizant Communication Books.
Wellness Tourism: Bibliographic and Webliographic Essay
David P. Dillard
http://tinyurl.com/p63whl
http://tinyurl.com/ou53aw
INDOOR GARDENING
Improve Your Chances for Indoor Gardening Success
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/
http://groups.google.com/group/indoor-gardening-and-urban-gardening
SPORT-MED
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/sport-med.html
http://groups.google.com/group/sport-med
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sports-med/
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/sport-med.html
HEALTH DIET FITNESS RECREATION SPORTS TOURISM
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/
http://groups.google.com/group/healthrecsport
http://healthrecsport.jiglu.com/
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/health-recreation-sports-tourism.html
.
.
Please Ignore All Links to JIGLU
in search results for Net-Gold and related lists.
The Net-Gold relationship with JIGLU has
been terminated by JIGLU and these are dead links.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/30664
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/message/145
.
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