Part 2: Beyond MEDLINE: Translating Search Strategies for Knowledge Syntheses

Audience: University of Toronto graduate students and faculty engaged in health science research

Date: Friday, January 24, 2020

Time: 1:00pm - 3:30pm

Location: Robarts Library Electronic Classroom  (4th floor)

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. 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 students will:

• Review Medline strategy from Part 1 and prepare it for translation
• Delve deeper into the advanced features of interfaces and databases which allow for editing and refining a search strategy
• Identify potential sources for bias in their search and develop strategies to mitigate them
• Translate and execute structured search strategies using different databases, including OVID Embase, Ebsco CINAHL, and Cochrane Central
• Prepare database search strategies and compose search methods, such that they can be repeated and to ensure proper reporting

Instructors

Erica Lenton, MA, MLIS, is the rehabilitation and kinesiology librarian with the Gerstein Science Information Centre. Prior to arriving at Gerstein, Erica worked in continuing medical education and more recently, as a solo hospital librarian at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta. Through her experience in hospital and academic health science libraries, she has been involved in a number of systematic and scoping reviews and has provided expert searching and systematic review training for clinicians, students, and faculty.

Glyneva Bradley-Ridout, MI, is the pharmacy librarian with the Gerstein Science Information Centre. She also liaises with the department of nutritional sciences, and the department of pharmacology & toxicology in the Faculty of Medicine. Glyneva supports researchers conducting knowledge synthesis projects by providing training, curriculum embedded instruction, and expert searching. Prior to joining Gerstein, Glyneva was a hospital librarian at St. Michael’s Hospital where she was also involved in a number of systematic and scoping review projects.