Tips on accessing library resources from off-campus, identifying keywords and synonyms, evaluating information, and more presented 6/25 & 6/26 at the UIC Library.

1. KN Study Abroad 2016 Barcelona:
Research Tips & Tricks
May 25, 2016
Jamie Dwyer
KN Research Coach

2. Day One Overview
• Review Off-Campus Access
to Library Resources
• Identify keyword searching
strategies

3. 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.

4. Library Website

5. 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

6. 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!)

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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?”

13. Organize issues & terms
Social
media
Quit
smoking
High
school/
college
students
Facebook
Internet
Online community/ies
Smoking
cessation
Substance
useTeenager(s)
Young
adult(s)

14. Brainstorm terms on worksheet
• Identify synonyms/related terms for:
–Mood
–Mediterranean Diet
–Movement
–Spain

15. “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.

16. “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”).

17. Google Scholar
• Access from UIC Library Website

18. “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”).

19. PubMed
• Access from UIC Library Website

20. “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”).

21. Day One Review
• Off-Campus Library Access
• Identifying Keywords & Synonyms
• Searching in “Books, Articles & More”, Google
Scholar, & PubMed

22. Day Two Overview
• Explain Boolean Operators
• Describe types of literature
• List top resources for Study
Abroad topics

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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…

26. 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)

27. Boolean worksheet
(Ice Cream AND Cookies) OR Brownies Ice Cream AND (Cookies OR Brownies)
Ice Cream Cookies
Brownies
Ice Cream Cookies
Brownies

28. Boolean worksheet
(Ice Cream AND Cookies) OR Brownies Ice Cream AND (Cookies OR Brownies)
Ice Cream Cookies
Brownies
Ice Cream Cookies
Brownies

29. 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

30. 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.

31. Initial Evaluation Criteria
• Currency
• Relevance
• Authority
• Accuracy
• Purpose

32. 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

33. Scholarly Examples
The Scientific 7-Minute Workout
Reynolds, Gretchen
New York Times
High-intensity circuit training using body
weight
Klika, Brett C.S.C.S
American College of Sports Medicine
Health & Fitness Journal
Effects of Dietary Composition During
Weight Loss Maintenance: A Controlled
Feeding Study
Ebbeling, Cara B., PhD
Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA)
The Eye-Opening Truth About Protein
Plosser, Liz
Fitness Magazine

34. 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)

35. Restaurants: Quality

36. Types of Research Articles
Meta-analyses
Reviews
Experimental Studies
Case Studies
(& Meta Analyses)

37. 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.

38. Review vs Meta-analysis
Design 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

39. Experimental vs Case Study
Design Features Experimental Quasi-
experimental
Non-
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

40. 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.

41. 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

42. Health Departments
• Minesterio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e
Igualdad Statistical Site of the NHS:
http://www.msc.es/en/estadEstudios/estadistica
s/sisInfSanSNS/tablasEstadisticas/home.htm
• Generalitat de Catalunya Health Department:
http://salutweb.gencat.cat/ca/inici

43. Mediterranean Diet
• Mediterranean Diet Overview/ Medline Plus:
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/pati
entinstructions/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!)

44. US Sources
• USDA 2015 Dietary Guidelines:
http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-
scientific-report/15-appendix-e3/e3-7.asp
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/
(NHANES, BRFSS Surveys)
• HealthyPeople 2020
https://www.healthypeople.gov/

45. 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