KN Study Abroad 2016 Barcelona:Research Tips & Tricks

May 25, 2016Jamie Dwyer

KN Research Coach

Day One Overview

• Review Off-Campus Access to Library Resources

• Identify keyword searching strategies

Remote access to UIC Library

• Start at Library Website!http://library.uic.edu/

• Login with netID & password when prompted

• Problems with access? – Chat with a librarian or send us an email.

Library Website

Why is research important?

• Because I said so! …just kidding.• Don’t reinvent the wheel• Jump into a topic with a sense of what’s been

done in the field• Test out the uniqueness of your idea• Acknowledge the hard work of researchers

before you

Develop your topic

• Interest (choose something you’ll enjoy researching!)

• Scope (breadth and depth of a topic)

• Time (pick something you can successfully address in the given time constraints/due dates)

• Clarity (know what you’re looking for; refine/adjust as needed)

• Assignment (follow directions from your professor on topic & assignment requirements!)

What question are you asking?

• Do you need background information?– Who, what, when, where, why, how

• “What is the Mediterranean Diet?”• “How many people are obese in Spain?”

– The answers are usually factual or can be supported with data/statistics.

• Encyclopedias, textbooks, government websites

What question are you asking?

• Do you need more detailed information?– Comparison, effectiveness, research-based

• “Does recreational kayaking increase health outcomes in elderly populations?”

• “Does the nutritional value of an egg vary if it has been refrigerated or not?”

– The answers are usually trickier to find.• Research studies/articles, book/book chapter

Develop your topic

As you search:– Compile a list of related terms– Save useful articles/resources– Write down background information

Keyword identification

• Write out your question/problem• Identify the most crucial elements of your

question– What does every resource have to include for it to

be relevant?• Example: “What are the dietary habits of

people living in Spain?”– KEY ELEMENTS: dietary habits, Spain

Keyword brainstorming

• Brainstorm synonyms for your key elements:– Dietary habits: diet, nutrition– Spain: Spanish, Spaniards

• Brainstorm before, after, during your search. Sometimes “your term” isn’t recognized/used by a website or database.

Organize issues & terms

Key Issues: Social media High school/ college students

Quit smoking

Related terms: Online community/ies Youth(s) Smoking cessation

Facebook Young adult(s) Tobacco cessation

Twitter Teenager(s) Quitting smoking

Internet Adolescent /-ce Substance use

Sample Research Question: “Is the use of social media an effective method to encourage high school and college students to quit smoking?”

Organize issues & terms

Social media Quit

smoking

High school/college

students

Facebook

Internet

Online community/ies

Smoking cessation

Substance useTeenager(s)

Young adult(s)

Brainstorm terms on worksheet

• Identify synonyms/related terms for:

– Mood– Mediterranean Diet– Movement– Spain

“Books, Articles & More”

• Searches many of our databases for articles, as well as our collections for books, e-books…

• Use filters (Peer review, UIC, etc.)• When prompted, login for access to more UIC

resources.

“Books, Articles & More”- Worksheet

• Conduct a search for:“Mediterranean diet” mood movement

• Write down 1 reference, the terms you found most successful, and strengths of the database/resource (“Books, Articles, & More”).

Google Scholar

• Access from UIC Library Website

“Google Scholar”- Worksheet

• Conduct a search for:“Mediterranean diet” mood movement

• Write down 1 reference, the terms you found most successful, and strengths of the database/resource (“Google Scholar”).

PubMed

• Access from UIC Library Website

“PubMed”- Worksheet

• Conduct a search for:“Mediterranean diet” mood movement

• Write down 1 reference, the terms you found most successful, and strengths of the database/resource (“PubMed”).

Day One Review

• Off-Campus Library Access

• Identifying Keywords & Synonyms

• Searching in “Books, Articles & More”, Google Scholar, & PubMed

Day Two Overview

• Explain Boolean Operators

• Describe types of literature

• List top resources for Study Abroad topics

diet exercise

Search Tools: Boolean Basics

AND OR NOT

Diet AND Exercise Diet OR Exercise Diet NOT Exercise

Check out this tutorial for Boolean Help: http://lib.colostate.edu/tutorials/boolean.html

diet exercisediet exercise

Quit smoking OR smoking cessation OR substance use

High school/college students OR young adults

OR teenager(Social media OR Facebook OR Internet) AND (Quit smoking OR smoking cessation OR substance use) AND (High school students

OR college students OR young adults OR teenagers)

Social media OR Facebook OR

Internet

Combining Concepts• Combine related terms / synonyms with OR

– (exercise OR “physical activity”)– (youth OR juvenile OR child* OR adolescen*)

• Combine different concepts with AND– (exercise OR “physical activity”) AND (youth OR juvenile

OR child* OR adolescen*)

• Truncation- add a * to the end of a root word to search variations… athlet* searches:– Athlete, athletes, athletic, athletics, athleticism…

Combining Concepts: FOIL

(exercise OR physical activity) AND (diet OR nutrition)

(exercise AND diet)OR

(exercise AND nutrition)OR

(physical activity AND diet)OR

(physical activity AND nutrition)

Boolean worksheet

(Ice Cream AND Cookies) OR Brownies Ice Cream AND (Cookies OR Brownies)

Ice Cream Cookies

Brownies

Ice Cream Cookies

Brownies

Boolean worksheet

(Ice Cream AND Cookies) OR Brownies Ice Cream AND (Cookies OR Brownies)

Ice Cream Cookies

Brownies

Ice Cream Cookies

Brownies

Can you find it all at once?

• Not always- likely you’ll have to synthesize information from a variety of sources.– Diet + Mood– Mood + Physical Activity– Physical Activity + Diet– Diet + Barcelona– Physical Activity + Barcelona– Mood + Barcelona

Trustworthy Information

• In groups of 2-3, discuss what aspects of a source of information that make you trust it and what raises suspicions.– Examples: spelling errors, author affiliated with a

university or research center…

• Report back to group.

Initial Evaluation Criteria

• Currency• Relevance• Authority• Accuracy• Purpose

Types of Information Sources• Scholarly vs Popular Periodicals (Vanderbilt video)

Scholarly Popular

Authors are ‘experts’, credentialed w/affiliations

Authors are journalists

Multiple authors 1-2 authors

Peer review No peer review

“Boring” Flashy covers

Few/no advertisements Advertisements

Bibliography No bibliography

Specialized vocabulary Written for general audience

Lengthy Usually 1-5 pages

Journals Magazines, Newspapers

Scholarly Examples

The Scientific 7-Minute WorkoutReynolds, GretchenNew York Times

High-intensity circuit training using body weightKlika, Brett C.S.C.SAmerican College of Sports Medicine Health & Fitness Journal

Effects of Dietary Composition During Weight Loss Maintenance: A Controlled Feeding StudyEbbeling, Cara B., PhDJournal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

The Eye-Opening Truth About ProteinPlosser, LizFitness Magazine

Original/Primary Research

• Based on original experiments• Researcher/author- affiliated• Abstract, Intro, Study design/Methodology,

Results, Discussion, Conclusion• Bibliography• Peer-reviewed

Popular vs. Scholarly (Vanderbilt video)

Restaurants: Quality

McDonald’s

Chili’s

Farm-to-table

Types of Research Articles

Meta-analysesReviews

Experimental Studies Case Studies

Quality

of Ev

idenc

e(& Meta Analyses)

Quality

of Evid

ence

Research Articles

• Reviews, meta-analysis: Review of existing studies, sometimes a synthesis of results.

• Experimental studies: Written by study author/researcher. Application of an intervention of some sort to participants & analyzing results. Randomized Controlled Trials are “gold standard.”

• Case studies: Usually more “story-like.” No manipulation of independent variable.

Review vs Meta-analysisDesign Distinctive Features

Review article • Review of the literature, often a broad overview of a topic to answer background questions

Systematic reviews attempt to find all existing knowledge on a topic/clinical question through a comprehensive, repeatable literature search & can cover a range of research studies

Meta-analysis • Use statistical procedures to pool results from independent primary studies

• Synthesize summaries & conclusions• Often an overview of experimental and/or quasi-

experimental studies

Experimental vs Case StudyDesign Features Experimental Quasi-

experimentalNon-experimental (qualitative)

Intervention Yes Yes Sometimes

Control group Yes Sometimes No

Random assignment to control group or intervention

Yes Lacks one No

Manipulation of independent variable

Yes Sometimes No

Example(s) -Randomized controlled trial

-Crossover design-Time series

-Case study-Explanatory-Descriptive-Predictive

Resources for research articles

• PubMed– Limit to “Reviews” initially for overview of topics– Potentially use HealthyPeople 2020 searches

• Google Scholar– Don’t see “Find it @ UIC”? Click on “More”

• PsycInfo– Psychology & Human Behavior articles

• Academic Search Complete– Multidisciplinary articles. Also try CINAHL.

World Health Organization

• WHO Nutrition:http://www.who.int/nutrition/en/

• WHO Mental Health Resources: http://www.who.int/mental_health/en/

• WHO Country Profile- Spain: http://www.euro.who.int/en/countries/spain 2013

• WHO Country Report- Spain: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/243326/Spain-WHO-Country-Profile.pdf?ua=1

Health Departments

• Minesterio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad Statistical Site of the NHS: http://www.msc.es/en/estadEstudios/estadisticas/sisInfSanSNS/tablasEstadisticas/home.htm

• Generalitat de Catalunya Health Department: http://salutweb.gencat.cat/ca/inici

Mediterranean Diet

• Mediterranean Diet Overview/ Medline Plus: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000110.htm

• AHA “Mediterranean Diet”: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Mediterranean-Diet_UCM_306004_Article.jsp#.V0NHk9IrJaQ (Good example of an overview, but you can find a better reference- cite the original source- i.e. “The incidence of heart disease…”- find a source!)

US Sources

• USDA 2015 Dietary Guidelines:http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/15-appendix-e3/e3-7.asp

• Centers for Disease Control and Preventionhttp://www.cdc.gov/(NHANES, BRFSS Surveys)

• HealthyPeople 2020https://www.healthypeople.gov/

Thank You

• Questions?

• Get help:http://library.uic.edu/home/services/ask-a-librarian

• Slides will be available. Additional resources:http://researchguides.uic.edu/knspain*Will be active on Friday, 5/27/16