Specific techniques for finding information online

SEMINAR

Professor:
Prof. Dr. Lindita Aliaga

Prishtine, 2023

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Contents
Abstract:.....................................................................................................................4

Material and methods................................................................................................6

Keywords:..............................................................................................................6

Introduction................................................................................................................7

Bibliographic databases.........................................................................................7

Keywords...............................................................................................................8

Boolean Operators.................................................................................................8
AND.....................................................................................................................................................8
OR........................................................................................................................................................9
NOT......................................................................................................................................................9
Combining Boolean Operators............................................................................10

Use Truncation / Stemming to Expand Your Search...........................................10

Conduct Exact Phrase Searching to Narrow Your Search...................................11

Peer Review.......................................................................................................................................11
Results.....................................................................................................................12

Online research in PubMed and Google Scholar.................................................12

• Use of keywords in PubMed...........................................................................................................12
Boolean operators in PubMed...........................................................................................................13
Conclusion...............................................................................................................15

References................................................................................................................16

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Abstract:
Scientific knowledge is mainly offered to us in two forms: Printed copy ("hard
copy") and Electronic Database.
Research in the pharmaceutical literature is done through scientific journals:
Cancer Journal for Clinicians, New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet
Journal, Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Clinical
Oncology, Nature Medicine, British Medical Journal, Cancer Cell Journal but as a
resource database scientific eg. PubMed.
Prestigious database:
EBSCO [1]
DOAJ [2]
Google Scholar [3]
PubMed [4]
Web of Science [5]
Scopus [6]
The difference between Google Scholar and PubMed is that although both are
databases, Google Scholar is more general and PubMed is a more medical
database.
Creating search strategies for systematic reviews, finding the best balance between
sensitivity and specificity, and translating search strategies between databases are
challenging. Several methods describe standards for systematic search strategies,
but a consistent approach for creating an exhaustive search strategy has not yet
been fully described in enough detail to be fully replicable. The authors have
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established a method that describes step by step the process of developing a
systematic search strategy as needed in the systematic review. This method
describes how single-line search strategies can be prepared in a text document by
typing search syntax (such as field codes, parentheses, and Boolean operators)
before copying and pasting search terms (keywords and free-text synonyms) that
are found in the thesaurus. To help ensure term completeness, we developed a
novel optimization technique that is mainly based on comparing the results
retrieved by thesaurus terms with those retrieved by the free-text search words to
identify potentially relevant candidate search terms. Macros in Microsoft Word
have been developed to convert syntaxes between databases and interfaces almost
automatically.

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Material and methods
The paper is a descriptive, retrospective study. The search for published literature
was carried out through electronic platforms: Google Scholar, PubMed, Medscape,
and Medline.

Keywords:

Boolean Operators, Systematic review, Quotation marks, Wedge words

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Introduction
Searching for information on library databases or Internet search engines can often be a
frustrating experience. For broad topics, the results obtained from a search can be overwhelming.
The following are some techniques for refining research to produce more precise results.
By entering keywords, finding information in an electronic database is quite simple. The BEST
information is not always the easiest to find. Whether you're using an electronic reference book,
a bibliographic database like the Web of Science, or an internet search like Google, search
methods are the same for all electronic resources. But bibliographic databases frequently have
more search options.

Bibliographic databases

A bibliographic database contains bibliographic records. It's a systematized

collection of references to published digital literature, which includes conference
proceedings, journals and review papers, government and legal publications,
patents, norms, reports, books, diurnals, etc. A large proportion of bibliographic
data available in these databases generally belong to conference papers, articles,
etc., rather than just lectures. These contain rich and applicable subject
descriptions similar to keywords, subject terms, etc. The first Dialog database
software was created under Rodgers. Summit’s leadership at Lockheed in
1966( Dialog was constructed online in 1966). In the 1970s, computer-grounded
bibliographic databases revolutionized bibliographic exploration. In 1972, Tymnet
formed a marketable telecommunications network, which led database providers

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to offer services through the network. During the 1980s, library resource use began
to increase significantly. [7]

Keywords

Keywords are the main ideas in a research question or thesis statement, and these
are the words that you will use to search for information on your topic. Sometimes
an idea will include more than one word to describe the concept, and in this case,
you’ll have a phrase. Examples of phrases are concepts like “global warming”,
“stem cell”, or “gun control”. Different authors may use different terms to describe
the same information. These are known as synonyms.

Boolean Operators

Boolean searching is based on a system developed by George Boole, a 19 th-century

mathematician. [8] Most online databases and Internet search engines support
Boolean searching. The power of Boolean searching is based on connecting
keywords with Boolean operators. The three basic operators are AND, OR, and
NOT.
AND

We use AND between keywords to narrow the search. The database or search
engine will only retrieve those articles or web pages that contain both words.
Using AND will decrease the number of hits or articles or web pages in your
result list.

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 Figure 1: Example of herbal AND medicine

herbal AND medicine

OR
Type OR between keywords to broaden research. The database or search engine
will retrieve those articles or web pages that contain at least one of these words.
Using OR will increase the number of articles or web pages in the result list
(especially if not used in combination with AND or NOT). Use OR between
keywords that are synonyms or have similar meanings.
Figure 2: Example: baby OR infant

baby OR infant

NOT
Type NOT before a keyword to exclude that keyword from your search. Using
NOT will decrease the number of articles or web pages in your result list. The best
use of NOT is when you are searching for a keyword that may have multiple
meanings.
Figure 3: Example: benzodiazepines NOT antidepressants

benzodiazepines antidepressants

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Combining Boolean Operators

Use parentheses ( ) to keep combination searches in order. In the example below,

the database or search engine will retrieve articles or web pages that must contain
the word law and at least one of the words in parentheses.

Example: (ecstasy OR MDMA) AND law

ecstasy MDMA

law

Use Truncation / Stemming to Expand Your Search

•Truncation/Stemming, such as an asterisk (*) or question mark (?) at the end of a

word, allows you to search for a root form of a word and pick up any end.

Example: typing teen* will find teen, teens, teenage, teenager, teenagers.

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•Be careful not to end the stem or root of a word too early to retrieve too many
results.
Example: typing cat* will find the cat, cats, catalog, catastrophe, catsup, etc.

Conduct Exact Phrase Searching to Narrow Your Search

Using quotation marks (" ") around the keywords to look for an exact phrase.
Example: "attention deficit disorder”
Peer Review
According to the Cambridge peer review dictionary, it means “… the process of
someone reading, checking, and giving his or her opinion about something that has
been written by another scientist or expert working in the same subject area, or a
piece of work in which this is done…” [9]
Peer review is the process of evaluating submissions to scholarly journals. Using
rigorous criteria, peer review panels in the same field determine whether each
submission will be accepted for publication. For this reason, academic journals are
one of the most authoritative sources of information to use in research projects, as
long as the journal itself is credible and respected.

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Results
As a result, I searched the medical literature in PubMed as the basic medical data,
but the same logic is used in other research sources.
In the following, I have described the specific methods of online literature search
in PubMed.

Online research in PubMed and Google Scholar

Conducting a literature search using PubMed: How can I refine PubMed research?
PubMed is a medical database that contains information about various topics.
PubMed is a platform that has been indexing journal articles and more since 1947.
It covers the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care
systems, preclinical sciences, and related fields. PubMed is developed and
maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Center
for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), both at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). [10]
As of December 2020, PubMed contains over 30 million records. [11]
• Use of keywords in PubMed
Keywords can be any word used to describe the idea or concept of the topic.
Keywords can be single words or phrases.
Use quotation marks around all phrases to ensure that the phrase is searched
together.

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Boolean operators in PubMed

A comprehensive PubMed search will include controlled vocabulary and keyword

terms. Boolean operators are used to combine search terms. In PubMed, we can
use the AND, OR, and NOT operators. Boolean operators MUST be used as
uppercase letters (AND, OR, NOT).
OR – used between similar keywords, such as synonyms, acronyms, and variations
in spelling within the same idea or concept
AND - used to connect ideas and concepts where you want to see both ideas or
concepts in the search results.
NOT- used to exclude specific keywords from the search; however, NOT should
be used with caution because we may end up missing something important from
the topic. Search Bar

Figure 4: PubMed searching view

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 Title
Authors

Filters

Figure 5: PubMed

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Conclusion
In conclusion, the specific techniques of online literature search have raised to
another level the easiest access to the sources, respectively the most accurate data.
Regardless of the different online sources, whether they are in the form of hard
copies or electronic databases, the techniques for searching scientific literature
have the same logic. To have more effective access to relevant results from online
information sources such as search engines, databases, online repositories, and
digital libraries, it is very important to collect information about this system so that
we can interact properly. Knowing the system's specifications, its capabilities, the
query creation process, and advanced search techniques play an important role in
the success or failure of search results.

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References

[1] "EBSCO," [Online]. Available: https://www.ebsco.com/. [Accessed 2 JAN

2023].
[2] "DOAJ," [Online]. Available: https://doaj.org/. [Accessed 2 JAN 2023].
[3] "Google Scholar," [Online]. Available: https://scholar.google.com/. [Accessed
2 JAN 2023].
[4] [Online]. Available: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. [Accessed 2 JAN
2023].
[5] "Web of Science," [Online]. Available:
https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/basic-search. [Accessed 2 JAN
2023].
[6] "Scopus," [Online]. Available: https://www.scopus.com/home.uri. [Accessed
2 JAN 2023].
[7] N. Patra, Digital Disruption and Electronic Resource Management in
Libraries 1st Edition, London: Elsevier, 2017.
[8] S. Burns, "What is Boolean Search?," New York Public Library, 22 February
2011. [Online]. Available: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/02/22/what-
boolean-search. [Accessed 10 January 2023].
[9] Cambridge Dictionary, [Online]. Available:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/peer-review. [Accessed 20
January 2023].

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[10] Johns Hopkins University, "Expert Searching," 2020. [Online]. Available:
https://browse.welch.jhmi.edu/searching/pubmed-search-tips/. [Accessed 11
Jan 2023].
[11] National Center for Biotechnology Information, "PubMed Overview,"
PubMed , [Online]. Available: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/about/.
[Accessed December 30 2022].

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