Part 2: Expanding the Search: Translating Strategies and Going Grey

Audience: Graduate students and faculty engaged in health science research

Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Time: 2:10pm - 4:00pm

Location: Robarts Library, 4th floor electronic classroom

Note: this course may be taken as part of the Graduate Professional Skills Program.

In order to minimize bias and base your research on as much evidence as possible, you will have to search more than one journal article database for published literature, as well as sources for grey literature. A search strategy often has to be revised for different databases and resources to take advantage of the strengths and unique features of each.

Building on the structured approach we practiced in Part 1, in this hands-on workshop, we will:

• Identify potential sources for bias in your search and develop strategies to mitigate them
• Practice translating and executing structured search strategies using different databases, including OVID Embase, Ebsco CINAHL, ProQuest Sociological Abstracts, and Cochrane Central
• Demonstrate best practices for supplementary search techniques including hand-searching and reference tracking
• Delve deeper into the advanced features of interfaces and databases which allow for editing and refining a search strategy
• Develop a strategy for identifying appropriate sources of grey literature 
• Prepare search strategies and compose search methods, such that they can be repeated and to ensure proper reporting