Literature searching for Research Projects / Literature Reviews

BSc Sport & Exercise Rehabilitation

October 2016

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Today

• Refresh and review literature searching strategies and sources

• Full text and citation searching

• What would you like to cover?

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Starting your search

Think about:

• Areas of interest

• Keywords

• Scope of subject

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Keywords• Brainstorm – it will save you

time later!

• Searching only one word for your concept will not necessarily bring you all the results. And sometimes none.

Not everyone uses the same terminology for the same idea.

• Use the worksheet if you like (it also helps you organise how to combine the terms with ‘AND’ or ‘OR’)

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stretching

• Stretch*• Flexibility / flexible• Pliability• “Range of motion”• Warm up / cool down

etc

muscle soreness

• Sore*

• Muscle pain / cramps / contraction

• Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)

after exercise

• Post-exercise• Physical activity• Specific?

Is stretching effective in preventing or reducing muscle soreness after exercise?

Specific types

• Specific groups of athletes

•Age?

•Gender?

•Level – elite etc?

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Back to your topic

• Narrow it down to some key words

• Alternatives?

• Swap with your neighbour – add some they haven’t thought of

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AND / OR.....WHY?

Where to search?

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• Widen your search eg. Strapping OR taping OR bracing

• Narrow your search eg. Rehabilitation AND Ankle

Search tips

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• Search for phrases (“”): eg. “anterior cruciate ligament”

• Broaden your search (*):

eg. swim* (finds swim, swimmer, swimmers, swimming etc)

Search tips

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Getting full text of journal articles

• Regardless of where you’re searching…be logged into myUniHub and click on a My Library/My Study link first

• If you’re not lucky… REMEMBER – it won’t always be directly available to you – especially for dissertations

• Double-check (Summon/Google Scholar)• Google it! — Researcher networks (e.g. ResearchGate, Academia.edu), contacting

authors

— Authors’ & institutions’ websites

• Inter-Library Loans

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Citation searching• Which articles have cited an earlier article• Find articles on similar/related subject• How many times an article has been cited• Best journals in your field

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Citation searching• Allows you to move forwards and backwards in the

literature• Use Google Scholar, Summon or Science Citation Index

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Citation searching - Summon

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See articles which cite this one in Web of Science / Science Citation Index

Citing articles in Scopus

Mentions on social media, blogs, news sources etc

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Science Citation Index

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How much attention did it get?

Presentation title | 16

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SPSS• Available to download from MyUniHub – PC and Mac

versionso My Study page > Software box ‘Download software for my PC or

Mac’

• SPSS Statistics Essential Training tutorial from Lynda.com o Make sure you’ve logged into MyUniHub firsto sign up for a Middlesex account here first:

http://ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/login?url=http://iplogin.lynda.como Then access the tutorial at http://

www.lynda.com/allcourses?category=spss_1009

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Need help?

• Librarians in the Study Hub (1st floor of Sheppard Library) 9-5 Mon-Fri

• Ask a Librarian https://unihelp.mdx.ac.uk/askalibrarian • SES Library Subject Guide – Jo’s contact details and

presentations/helpsheetshttp://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/sport

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Getting Full text of journal articles

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• Troubleshooting guide can be found here

— http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/accessingelectronicresources

• If you’re not lucky… REMEMBER – it won’t always be directly available to you – especially for the dissertation

— Double check the library catalogue by copying journal name into the ‘journal search’. If we have it there’ll be a record and a link with the dates we have access to.

— Go to Google Scholar and look for PDF signs— Search for Author’s website/institution’s repository, often they have uploaded

a pre-publication version— ResearchGate, Academia.edu…— Emailing authors— Order a copy via the inter-library loan service (you’ll be emailed with a link to a

PDF) (£3.00 added to your library account)http://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/study/library/resources/ill/index.aspx