Literature Searching and Finding Research Articles

Anglia Ruskin University Library http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk

How to find research articles.

What are research articles?

Why should you use research articles?

What we cover in this session will hopefully save you time and increase your grades.

Why should you find evidence to back up what you say?

The Nursing and Midwifery Council states that nurses“must deliver care

based on the best available evidence or best practice”.

So, where are the best places to start collecting evidence?

Books provide a broad discussion and overview of the established facts and theories and historical context.

Websites can be helpful for background information, but always remember to evaluate.

Ask questions like: Who wrote the website? Is it from a reliable source?

Journals contain journal articles, news and editorials, commentary, literature reviews and systematic

reviews and much more!

Quantitative researchinvolves numerical data

collection

and statistical evidence.

Qualitative datais “concerned with exploring

meaning and phenomena” and “words and descriptions”.

Primary Research Secondary Research

Also known as Original research Desk research

What’s the purpose

To share new research findings

To evaluate previous research findings

Examples Focus groupsSurveysQuestionnairesInterviewsObservationsExperimentsTrials

Literature reviewsSystematic reviewsMeta-analysisMeta-synthesis

Primary research is also known as

original research.

It’s purpose is to share new research findings.

The research methods used within the research may

vary, for example, quantitative methods or

qualitative methods.

Examples of primary research are interviews, observations, questionnaires, experiments and focus groups.

Secondary research is also known as desk research. It’s purpose is to evaluate previous research findings.

Some examples of secondary research articles are literature reviews, systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

To identify a research article look for descriptions of methodology and research methods.

They will also include a literature review, but only as part of the article.

There will also be a description of the sample, for example who were the participants and how were they sourced.

You should also be able to spot the method of data collection.

You will also find an analysis of the results.

Sometimes identifying a research article isn’t easy!

You may need to play detective and look

for clues.

Always read the abstract, and skim read the entire article as this should help

you identify if it is original research or not.

Before you start your search, remember to plan.

Think about your topic and the words you are going to use in your search.

Try to refine what it is you are looking

for.Filter out

any unnecessary words like ‘the’ and ‘what’. Are you looking

at a particular setting or group

of people?

Think of synonyms or alternative wordsto describe your search

concepts.

Now we have our key words, we need to think of ways to combine them to search successfully.

We can use something called Boolean operatorsto combine our key words.

The main operators are AND

ORNOT

OR will

your search.

AND will

your search.

Where’s the best place to start your

search?

The library website!

http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk