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Finding Articles and Books Using Database for your Discipline

Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,

Technical Operations, Pubrica

sales@pubrica.com

In brief

Literature review in research is a key

step in doing successful, objective work.

It helps to formulate a research question

and to schedule the analysis. The

published data available are huge;

therefore, it is an art to choose the correct

articles relevant to our study. It can be

time-consuming,

be tiring and trigger disinterest or even to

occasional abandonment of quest, if not

done in a step-wise manner.

Keywords: Literature Search, Google

Scholar, PubMed, Database, Research

Question, Search Engine

I. INTRODUCTION

A literature search is a well-

organised and systematic survey from the

already published data to become aware of

a breadth of good pleasant references on a

particular topic. One should conduct the

literature search to identify appropriate

methodology, the layout of the study;

populace sampled and sampling methods,

methods of measuring principles and

strategies of analysis. It also helps in

determining irrelevant variables affecting

the outcome and figuring out faults or

lacunae that would be avoided.

Formulating a well-focussed question is an

important step for facilitating accurate

scientific research. There may be trendy

questions or patient-orientated questions

that get up from medical issues. Patient-

oriented questions can involve the impact

of remedy or disease or examine gain

versus drawback for a set of patients

(Grewal et al., 2016).

II. TYPES OF LITERATURE

Primary Sources

Primary sources are the credible

publication of new evidence, observations

and statements from an expert (case

studies, clinical trials, etc.) and a peer-

reviewed journal which are generally

published. Even primary literature includes

draft studies, congress articles and

preprints.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are publications

of systematic review or meta-analysis, in

which information extracted from primary

source literature is inferred and analyzed.

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary literature consists of

collections that gather knowledge (e.g.

reference books) from primary or

secondary research.

III. METHOD OF LITERATURE

SEARCH

Various methods of literature

analysis are used alone or in combination.

For the past few decades, searching the

local as well as the national library over

books, papers, etc. has been a common

practice, and still, physical literature

discovery is an essential component of any

organized search process. Through

technology progressing, the Internet is

now the gateway to the labyrinth of vast

medical literature. The conduct of a

literature review includes web-based

search engines, i.e. Google, Google

Scholar, etc., or the use of various online

research sources to classify materials that

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reflect the research topic or those that are

homologous to it (Martínez-García et al.,

2019).

Databases for original published

articles in journals and evidence-based

databases for comprehensive knowledge

are available as systematic reviews and

abstracts among the various databases used

for literature search. Most of these are not

freely available to individual users.

PubMed has been the most extensive

available tool since 1996; however, a

growing number of sources also offer free

access to biomedical literature. PubMed

contains more than 26 million citations

from Pubmed, life science journals and

online books.

The choice of databases depends

on the topic of interest and potential

coverage by the various databases.

Education Resources Information Center is

a free digital online educational research

and information library funded by the US

Institute of Education Sciences. Education

department, available via

http:/eric.ed.gov/. Only one site is allowed

to search all of the medical literature.

Many different repositories are required.

At least, it is crucial to scan for PubMed or

Medline, Embase and the Cochrane

Central Trials Database. A meta-analysis,

systematic reviews, randomized controlled

trials and seminal research need to

highlighted when searching such

databases.

IV. TRANSLATING KEYWORDS TO

STUDY QUERY

It will yield results based on any of

the stated words; hence, they are the

cornerstone of a successful quest. It should

be assumed that synonyms / alternate

words evoke additional information, i.e.

barbiturates instead of thiopentone.

Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) is the

structured hierarchical vocabulary of the

National Library of Medicine that is used

in PubMed to index papers, with more

specific terms grouped under more general

terms.' It is a reliable way to access quotes

using different terminology for similar

concepts since it indexes content-based

posts.

V. PHRASE SEARCH

It will only provide pages with the

words typed in the paragraph, in that exact

order and with no words in between.

VI. BOOLEAN OPERATORS

AND, OR and NOT are the three

Boolean operators named after the

mathematician George Boole. The

combination of two words with' AND' will

retrieve articles which reference both

words. Using' OR' will expand the search

and fetch more items that address either

subject. While using the phrase' NOT' to

combine terms, papers containing the first

but not the second word will be fetched,

thereby narrowing the search.

VII. FILTERS

Of example, article styles, text

availability, language, age, sex and journal

categories, filters may also be used to

refine the search (Britannica, 1957).

VIII. ASSESSMENT OF DATA

RELEVANCE

Until investing time in subsequent

data download, integration, and

computational and visualization activities,

perform a preliminary evaluation of the

recovered data. A quick review of the

metadata (text and/or images) can often

allow you to verify that the data complies

with the initial requirements and

constraints set out. Ideally, the metadata

will also provide ample details to

thoroughly determine the validity and

fitness for data use, including information

on how the data was collected and quality

assured, how the data was previously used,

and so on.

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Many data repositories, such as the

Arctic Data Center (https:/arcticdata.io) of

the National Science Foundation, allow the

data seeker to produce and download a

metadata quality report which evaluates

how well the metadata adheres to group

best practices for discovery and reusability

(Wilkinson et al., 2016).

IX. FUTURE SCOPES

Study issue is usually a subject of

interest to the researcher and some

familiarity. When reflecting on

information, yet to be discovered, it needs

to be channelled. Once the problem has

been narrowed down, the search for and

review of existing literature may further

streamline the approach to study.

Literature search not only provides an

opportunity to know more about a given

topic but also provides insight into how

previous researchers researched the topic.

It helps in understanding the concepts, find

problems and consider opportunities. In

short, systematic and well-organized

research can help with the development of

novel research.

REFERENCES

[1] Britannica, I. E. (1957). Encyclopaedia britannica.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Incorporated.

https://v2.itweb.co.za/sections/EB-Infographic-

FINAL-FINAL.pdf

[2] Grewal, A., Kataria, H., & Dhawan, I. (2016).

Literature search for research planning and

identification of research problem. Indian Journal

of Anaesthesia, 60(9), 635.

https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5049.190618

[3] Martínez-García, M., Vallejo, M., Hernández-Lemus,

E., & Álvarez-Díaz, J. A. (2019). Novel methods

of qualitative analysis for health policy research.

Health Research Policy and Systems, 17(1), 6.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-018-0404-z

[4] Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, Ij. J.,

Appleton, G., Axton, M., Baak, A., Blomberg, N.,

Boiten, J.-W., da Silva Santos, L. B., & Bourne, P.

E. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles for

scientific data management and stewardship.

Scientific Data, 3.

https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata201618.pdf?

origin=ppub