It’s all in the word search
July 1, 1999
It’s all in the word search
Tips for conducting preliminary research
The best way to conduct a literature search is with the help of a librarian, advises Barbara Hebert Snyder, MPH, CHES, president of Making Change, a health education consulting firm in Cleveland. "It is more efficient to work with someone who is already comfortable with doing searches and accessing multiple databases," she explains.
Yet, even with the help of a librarian you must be very specific in what you are looking for. Broad subjects garner thousands of potential citations. Therefore, it’s a good idea to clarify your thinking by creating a list of questions you are trying to answer and then highlighting the key words, advises Hebert Snyder.
Although a librarian is ideal, this service may not always be available. Following are several tips to make your search successful when you have to do it on your own:
• Read the abstracts.
Scan abstracts of articles uncovered in a literature search. If it sounds like it contains information you are looking for, print a hard copy of the entire article to see if your search is on target. "If the abstracts are related but they aren’t really cued in on what you want, then that is a clue to narrow your search. Focus it more, or come up with better key words," says Hebert Snyder.
• Identify databases.
When Yvonne Brookes, RN, patient education liaison for Baptist Health Systems of South Florida in Miami, does a literature search, she first checks Health Reference Center Academic by InfoTrac in Foster City, CA. InfoTrac is a multi-source database for health and wellness information to which her health care system subscribes. She also searches several Web sites, including Medline, the National Institutes of Health, the Medical Library Association consumer and patient health information section, and Thriveonline Health Library, which is a search engine for health care information.
To uncover the latest in community education, Brookes often reads on-line newsletters such as To Your Health, published by Kaiser Permanente. (For Web site addresses, see source list on p. 75.)
• Search by author.
Often, certain researchers will be well-known for their work in a particular area. If it pertains to your topic, search for articles they have written and then look at their references to lead you to more information, says Hebert Snyder.
• Expand on medical literature.
Don’t limit the literature search to medical journals, says Hebert Snyder. "If the search is limited to medical journals, it might not pick up some of the behavioral interventions or behavior change strategies that might be in some of the social science journals," she explains. Come up with key words that relate to behaviors so your search is more fruitful.
• Request information updates.
Identify six or seven journals that are most targeted to the area you are working in, and ask the librarian to photocopy the table of contents each month and mail them to you so you can keep abreast of the latest research. "You can decide if any of the articles in that issue are ones you would like to read and review," says Hebert Snyder. There may be fees involved, but they could be incorporated into the cost of program development.
• Keep an open mind.
Keep an open mind about what you find in the literature, says Mary Szczepanik, BSN, program manager for cancer education, support, and outreach at Grant/Riverside Methodist Hos pitals in Columbus, OH. While you may want to do the program, if the literature reveals that it won’t work because you have misread the population or the need, be willing to drop the idea.
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