Glenda Myers, D Litt et Phil Witwatersrand Health Sciences Library 2009 Search Strategy Design How to Use this Program Use this OpenOffice Impress program together with the Search Strategy Design Flowchart This Flowchart is shown again on the next slide for your convenience You may find it easier to print this flowchart out and use it in conjunction with the rest of the slides that follow Search Strategy Design Flowchart 1. Key Concepts/ Intent 2. Terms3. Strategy 6. Display Results5. Run Search 4.Select Appropriate Resource/Database 7. Obtain Full Text Documents 8.Wits Libraries 9. Inter-Library Loan 1. Identify Key Concepts or Intent of Search Research topic/hypothesis Is jogging good for pigs? Warthog Trying to Jump Over Fence to Start Jogging Pilansberg, July 2009 How Many Key Concepts? 1. First concept? Jogging 2. Second concept? Pigs 3. Third concept? Is Good a concept? Is Good a Key Concept? Answer: No Why not? The concept Good is: Subjective Qualitative Your own judgement at this stage You will need to collect data to prove/disprove this hypothesis Why Terms Like Good Are Not Part of Your Search Strategy If you add the word good to the search strategy you will ONLY retrieve those articles that conclude that jogging is good for pigs If you add the word good to the search strategy, you will NOT retrieve articles where the word bad is used, for xxample If you add the word good to the search strategy, you will also NOT retrieve articles where jogging has no effect on the pigs Why Does This Happen? This happens because computers cannot yet interpret semantic meaning in language When searching databases, the term good is retrieved letter by letter Only exact matches will be retrieved This means many articles will be missed Therefore There Are Two Search Terms in your Strategy 1. Jogging 2. Pigs 2. Identify Terms You will need to identify possible synonyms, antonyms (terms which are the opposites of each other), abbreviations, plurals, etc. in order to make your search as precise as possible Eg. Hearing or Audition You will also need to identify different spellings of the same word Eg. Paediatrics or Pediatrics It Helps to List All Terms in Vertical Columns for Each Concept Jogging Running Exercising Sprinting Dashing Pigs Hogs Swine Warthogs Suidae Now You Need to Combine These Terms in a Meaningful Way for Database Searching You will do so by using the Boolean Operators OR AND NOT You can see how to use these Boolean Operators in the following Venn Diagrams on the next slide Venn Diagrams Showing How Boolean Operators Work Boolean Operators AND will result in a sub-set of both terms OR will expand the universe of search terms NOT will exclude a term, but you will have to include the universe of all terms of a particular concept first If you are searching on PubMed it is better to avoid using NOT and use Limit instead You will be shown how to do this in the PubMed search module Why You List Your Terms Vertically in Columns You can now combine all vertical terms in your list with the Boolean Operator OR You can then combine each column of terms linked with or with the Boolean Operator AND The next slide will illustrate this 3. Combining Your Terms is Called Your Search Strategy Jogging Running Exercising Sprinting Dashing Pigs Hogs Swine Warthogs Suidae OR AND 4. Select the Most Appropriate Database for Your Search There are many databases available for searching These cover many different subjects You need to choose the most appropriate database for the subject area in which you are interested PubMed is used for Biomedical subjects Scopus can also be used for Biomedicine as well as Physical and Life Sciences How Do I Know Which Database to Use? Experience will guide you eventually If you obtain a good search result for your subject, you will use the same database for your next search Ask your librarian for advice 5. Run the Search You are now ready to run your search NOTE: You may repeat steps 1 4 as often as necessary in order to achieve the result you want Your output is determined by your input Redefine your concept/s; terms; strategy or change databases as often as required 6. Display Results Your results will appear in the form of a list of references or citations to the full text articles These references sometimes include an abstract (summary) of the article The reference contains the following elements: Author/s Date of Publication Title of Article Journal Title Journal Volume Journal Issue Pages Here is the Result for the Search Is Jogging Good for Pigs? Database ABI Inform Andrew, John. 16 June Jogging gives pigs shapelier legs, but good diet helps heart more. Wall Street Journal, 104 section 2: 25(W);33(E) Database ABI Inform Gleik, James. 17 Aug Pig feats. (Using jogging pigs to study exercise and heart disease). New York Times, 129 section1: Database ABI Inform [No Author]. 27 May Jogging pigs get in step. (Testing jogging and heart diseases). New York Times, 129 section 2: B12 Note How the References are Displayed in this Database Database ABI Inform [The database name and accession number of the document not necessary for your citation (reference), which follows] Andrew, John. 16 June Jogging gives pigs shapelier legs, but good diet helps heart more. Wall Street Journal, 104 section 2: 25(W);33(E). Author/s: John Andrew Date of Publication: 16 June 1981 Title of Article: Jogging gives pigs shapelier legs but good diet helps more. Journal Title: Wall Street Journal Journal Volume: 104 Journal Issue: Section 2 Pages: 25(W);33(E) 7. Obtain the Full Text Documents You should never rely on the abstract (summary) of the document at postgraduate study level or for research The abstract may have errors which you will replicate There may be no abstract for the document you need Reliance on abstracts is not good research methodology You should always obtain the full text of the article This is a portion of the full text of one of the articles Jogging Gives Pigs Shapelier Legs, but Good Diet Helps Hearts More by John Andrew (Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL) Having given their all for science, the jogging pigs of Arizona State University are, alas, no more. And that's bad news all round. Last year, a passel of the pigs enjoyed a brief fling in the limelight by taking part in a research study on the relative importance of diet and exercise in averting heart disease. Ross Consaul and Steve Grothaus, graduate students in agriculture, put 51 pigs into three dietary groups and subjected a third of each group to different exercises. There were the pigs that ate fat-free plain barley, the pigs that ate barley with salad oil high in saturated fats, and the pigs that gorged on barley with beef tallow, high in unsaturated fats. In each group a third of the pigs jogged daily for five months, a third jogged for 2 months, and a third exercised, or failed to exercise, exactly as they saw fit. Testing for Parameters To determine what all that had to do with piggish heart problems, the students analyzed blood samples. The conclusions, recently presented at a Miami, Fla., convention of the American College of Sports Medicine: Diet had more of an effect than mild exercise (the five month jogging) on the pigs' cardiovascular health. Although the jogging pigs ate less and grew shapelier legs, only those pigs on the fat-free and saturated fat diets showed notably healthier blood samples. Moral: Unless you're eating right, jogging won't help you. Pigs and Man Or at least that may be true if the pigs' cardiovascular physiology works the way humans' does, and the students say it does. Except for chimps and [other] primates, says Mr Consaul, the swine is probably the most closely related animal to man. Pigs and humans have similar nutrition needs and experience heart disease. 8. Finding Full Text Articles You should first look for the journal/s you require in the University of the Witwatersrand Libraries The URL for the Library is If the journal is not available electronically, you should see if it is available in print at Wits You will be shown how to locate e-journals and print journals in another module 9. Inter-Library Loans If the journal you require is not available at Wits, either electronically or in print, you may use the Inter-Library Loan service to request this article You will be shown how to do this in the module on locating journals and full text articles Acknowledgements The original concept by Gail Slatter Is jogging good for pigs?: a guide to online computer searching in libraries, 1984 is gratefully acknowledged.