340.802.81
Expert Searching for High Quality Evidence in the online Environment
Location
Internet
Term
2nd Term
Department
Epidemiology
Credit(s)
1
Academic Year
2016 - 2017
Instruction Method
TBD
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
One Year Only
Resources
Internet search engines such as Google give the illusion that finding answers to most questions has become a relatively simple process. However, doing an expert, comprehensive and efficient search for peer-reviewed and other high quality academic articles appropriate for graduate level work or the production of systematic reviews of the medical literature requires a specific set of knowledge and skills. Addresses the competencies needed to complete comprehensive, systematic, transparent searches of the literature.
Introduces students to effective and efficient searching of the medical literature, in particular the skills and knowledge needed to produce an effective search in support of a systematic review of the medical literature. Discusses existing standards and evidence for these standards. Familiarizes students with software that helps with manage the results of literature searches. Addresses the competencies needed to complete comprehensive, systematic, transparent searches of the literature.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- Produce a syntactically correct, reproducible search strategy in at least two core databases of medical information (PubMed and Embase)
- List existing standards for the production and publication of systematic reviews of the literature and supporting evidence for the importance of these standards
- Use several accepted styles of searching for medical literature and illustrate how to document them
- Search for abstracts, unpublished policy documents, white papers, etc.
- Use bibliographic management software to manage search results efficiently