As we all know, one cannot just conduct a research study out of the blue without a proper knowledge of the topic & of the previous studies conducted inchilloutshut harmonte-blaine donkeyluckycat 24bottlesclima benettonoutlet donkeyluckycat kleankanteenkinder senzamai harmonte-blaine lamilanesaborse fracominaoutlet scarpeovye kleankanteenkinder chilloutshut lecopavillon that area. This is where the term ‘literature survey’ comes into play. It is the process of searching & collecting relevant information on the topic of interest. Even if our purpose is something as informal as just reading up on a topic, using a proper method will help us to obtain accurate & relevant information.
Let us talk about a research study. After the ‘search’, a literature review which is basically a critical analysis of that information, will be written. This is a key part of the whole process as it allows us to get the relevant information about the topic & to ensure that our study is not a mere repetition. It also helps us to highlight the role of our study in adding to the existing knowledge in the particular area.
However, this ‘Search’ is not as easy as it sounds, as evident by there being an article on this topic.
What are some of the problems that we may face?
Well first of all, we might have a difficulty in finding out a lot of information. Even if we find the information, it is usually very difficult to separate right from wrong & to identify the relevant information from a sea of irrelevant information. The information gained through this manner may even be deficient in certain areas. Therefore, in order to avoid these problems, a proper Search Strategy is required.
In order to implement our strategy, we must first identify the sources of information.
Sources can either be printed, like books, magazines, encyclopedias, and journals or electronic, like ebooks, ejournals, electronic databases etc. After identifying the source we must use the proper strategy.
A search strategy has several steps. Basically speaking, one must
- Clarify the topic that we are searching for. Eg – Is Calcium supplementation effective in managing post menopausal osteoporosis in women?
- Breaking up this topic into key concepts. Eg – Calcium supplementation, post menopausal osteoporosis etc
- Translating the topic into subject terms & synonyms
Why? – Different researchers may have used different words to describe the same thing & therefore some important articles may be missed.
One can search using many synonyms, but an easier method where a standard vocabulary (MeSH terms) is used will be explained later in this article.
- Proper use of words like AND, OR, NOT (Boolean operators)etc
- Wildcard – Using # to symbolize different spellings (British / American)
Eg – colo#r would yield articles for colour & color
- Truncation – chop off (using * or!)
Eg – Educat* or Educat! would yield articles for education, educating, educated etc
- Refining the search. Eg – Checking spellings, reassessing the question etc
In this age of technology, the most commonly used sources are online ones.
What are the most used online sources?
Pubmed
It is the most widely used website in the search for medical research. With the above steps in mind, one can either perform a simple search or a more advanced search. The advanced search option allows us to select
- A particular field (to simplify the search) – eg- Author, Date, Journal etc. or even ‘all fields’
- Enter search terms (osteoporosis etc) &
- Combine with other terms using AND / OR / NOT etc
It also allows us to use the MeSH system (under fields) to make our search easier.
What is MeSH?
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) consist of a standard vocabulary that is internationally accepted & used to give uniformity to the cataloging of biomedical literature. It was built by the US National library of medicine (NLM). In short, it helps to bypass the issue which arises due to synonyms & is used to describe books & audiovisuals in the NLM & other medical library collections.
Another popular website (search engine) which can be used is Google scholar.
Depending on the nature of the topic, various other websites ranging from the official WHO website, to local websites such as the websites of the Ministry of Health, the Epidemiology Unit, the Department of Census & statistics & Sri Lanka Journals Online can be used in our literature search. There are also other reliable sites such as JSTOR / Taylor Francis Online & the sites of acclaimed universities in the world. However, one must always evaluate the information obtained, as some of the information provided by unreliable sites may be false.
How exactly do we evaluate the information?
We must assess whether the information is up – to – date, relevant to the topic, accurate, who the author is & what the purpose of the author (to promote something etc) is.
Tip – Check the domains. Websites with ‘com’ are less reliable while those with ‘edu’ or ‘gov’ are more reliable.
Other online sources – ejournals, ebooks, subject gateways, or even the e resources of the library of the university that we study in.
A subject gateway is a collection of websites on a particular subject. Unlike search engines, they contain only web resources that have been evaluated by specialists. (eg – HINARI)
Even though the trend is to pursue online sources, one must not forget the printed sources like books, magazines, encyclopedias, and journals with research articles & also reviews. A bibliography is something which we can use for this purpose. It includes all the relevant resources pertaining to a particular topic & can come in handy once a topic has been identified.
No matter what our topic is, the literature review will be much easier if we go about it in a methodical way. One must always keep in mind that the literature review is the foundation upon which our entire research is built upon. If the foundations are laid correctly, the rest will be a piece of cake.
Leave A Comment