Literature Searching: Finding the evidenceSES2203 March 2017

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What will we be doing today?

• What is a literature review?

• What makes a good search?

• Using specialist sources to find journal articles

• Evaluating and critiquing what you find

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Why research?

• Solve problems

• Underpin practice (does it work? Is it worth it?)

• Overview of existing knowledge, theory

• Identify gaps in knowledge

• Gather ideas about possible methods etc. for your study –

how you could collect and analyse the data.

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Finding the evidence

• For your

• Research proposal and presentation

And next year’s dissertation....

A literature review:

- Sets the scene

- Helps develop the rationale for your proposed research

- Outlines key themes, gaps in knowledge, limitations of

existing studies

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Finding resourcesmyUniHub > My Study > My Library

Select Summon

Login to

MyUniHub

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Activity 1: Explore

“Home advantage in sport”

• Using the search engine assigned to you (Summon or

Google Scholar):

1) Carry out a search on this topic

2) Select a journal article (the best you can find)

3) Access the full text (PDF) of the article

• Be prepared to explain how you found it and why you

chose it.

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What makes a good article?

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The CARP test

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C A R P

• Currency - How old is the information? When was it last updated?

• Authority - Who is the author / site creator? What is their background? Is the article published in a scholarly/peer reviewed journal?

• Relevance - Is this what I need? Will it answer my question? Is it at the appropriate level?

• Purpose - What is the purpose of the information e.g. financial gain, propaganda, academic, etc.

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What makes a good search?

Think about:

• Areas of interest

• Keywords

• Scope of subject - limits?

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Fundamental movement

skills

• Movement skills

• Skill acquisition

• Skill development

• Skill proficiency

• Motor skills / ability

Children

Adolescents

• Child*

• Adolescen*

• Youth

• Teenage*

Physical Education

• PE

• School sport

Physical activity levels

• Exercise

• Sports participation

• Enjoyment / fun etc

Does targeting

fundamental

movement skills in

PE improve

physical activity

levels in children &

adolescents?

Specific

skills

• Gender?

• Age groups?

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Over to you...

Using the worksheet:

• Briefly summarise your topic in the first box

If you don’t have one, try “Effects of fatigue in team sports”

• Narrow it down to some key words

• List any synonyms, alternative spellings or related topics

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Where to search?

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Beyond Summon – other places to search

• Databases

— Sport Discus

— Medline / PubMed – good for rehab and physiology topics

— PsycInfo – for psychology topics

— MyUniHub > My Study > My Library > Databases

• Google Scholar

• Individual journals specific to your topic

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Google Scholar – lots of useful features

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Author’s profile

– check for

other research

on the same

topic

Papers that

have

referenced

this one

The same paper on

other websites –

sometimes good for

getting full text

Full text from

Middlesex and

other sources

BUT…

- Limited ability to combine different keywords

- Older articles can appear first in results – use the date limits!

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Activity 3: exploring further

Using your keywords and the help sheets, try your search on Sport Discus and Summon/Google Scholar

Looking at your search results:

• How many results do you get? (Compare with the other databases)

• What kind of articles are they?

• Are your results from a range of journals?

• Can you refine your results further?

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Need further help?

• Librarians available in the Study Hub (library 1st floor)

Monday-Friday 9-5

• LET academic writing support 12-3, Study Hub

• 1-1 appointments bookable via your library subject guide

• Jo Wilson j.r.wilson@mdx.ac.uk

• https://unihelp.mdx.ac.uk/askalibrarian

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