Bearspaw Christian School

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Bearspaw Christian School

• Conducting Research
• Marcus Vaska
• May 28, 2008

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HSL Information Commons

• 37 PC workstations, Internet equipped with a
  multitude of software programs
• Commonly used for library instruction sessions
  and research workshops

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Session Outline

• Part I Information Commons
• Research Goals
• Search Process Search Strategies
• Research databases
• PubMed
• Web of Science
• Practice Exercise

• Part II Health Sciences Library Tour
• Circulation
• TAL card
• Reference Services
• Photocopying Printing
• Additional Tour Stops

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Research Goals

• Select and refine topic
• Develop an effective search strategy
• Choose or select an appropriate database,
  e-journal, online reference source, etc.
• Cite your sources and use an approved style guide

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Searching Strategies

• Boolean Operators
• AND (narrows search, retrieving records
  containing all of the terms)
• OR (broadens search, retrieving records
  containing any of the terms)
• NOT (excludes terms from a search, retrieving
  records that do not contain the term following
  it.)
• Truncation/Wildcard
• system returns records on system, systems,
  systematic
• ? wom?n returns records on both woman and women
  (singular and plural forms)
• Nesting
• Parenthesis, () keep related terms together
• If searching for an exact phrase, enclose phrase
  in quotation marks,

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Literature Search Processhttp//library.ucalgary.
ca/wispr/topicselection/logbook.html
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PubMed(www.pubmed.gov)
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Searching with PubMed

• Topic carbohydrates and their nutritional
  impact, as seen in the Canadian Food Guide
• Use the Preview Index Tab!
• Keywords
• Carbohydrates
• Nutrition
• food guide
• Canada

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Searching with PubMedInterpreting the Results
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Searching with PubMedSelecting Saving Results

• Select desired articles by clicking in the box
  next to each result number
• Saving a Search MyNCBI!
• One you have a MyNCBI account, click on Save
  Search
• Alternatively, you can click on the Send To drop
  down box, and direct your results to text, file,
  printer, or clipboard
• Clipboard feature only holds searches for 8
  hours, then they are deleted!

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Web of Science(Research Databases?W)
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Web of ScienceHome Page
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Searching with Web of Science

• Topic Kyoto Accord and greenhouse gas emissions
• Keywords
• Kyoto Accord
• greenhouse gas

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Saving Your Searches

• Web of Science
• In the Search Results screen, select the records
  that you wish to output, choose Full Record from
  the Output Records-Step 2 option, and click on
  the e-mail tab to e-mail yourself a copy of the
  results

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Practice Searching Question

• Topic Does the use of pesticides cause cancer in
  children?
• You may use either PubMed or Web of Science for
  this search!

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Practice Searching QuestionKeywords

• Web of Science pesticide AND (cancer OR
  neoplasm) AND child
• PubMed pesticide AND (cancer OR neoplasm
• limit results to child 6-12 years

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Database Helplines

• PubMed http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bookres.
  fcgi/helppubmed/pubmedhelp.pdf
• Web of Science http//images.isiknowledge.com.ezp
  roxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/help/WOS/hs_search.htmlhs_se
  arch

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Time for a Break

• This concludes the first portion of the session.
  If you have any further questions, please do not
  hesitate to contact me. Thank you!
• Marcus Vaska
• E-mail mmvaska_at_ucalgary.ca
• Phone [phone]