# Welcome to SMIRK Unit 3
GCU databases

- GCU databases
- Writing up your search strategy with PRISMA
- How does PRISMA work?
- How to use the PRISMA flowchart
- Using PRISMA 2
- Using PRISMA 3
- Using PRISMA 4
- Top tips for Google
- Top tips for Google 2
- Your librarian
- Back to main index

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# GCU databases

As you already know, databases are useful sources of information about journal articles, conference papers and other research materials. The University subscribes to many subject specific databases that you may not be aware of.

Before you start searching specific databases, it is useful to search our new single seach system, Discover. It is on the main library web page. It searches our main databases, books, ebooks and electronic journal content. You can link to the full text of articles where available and export citations into RefWorks to compile your bibliography. We have a workthrough guide on how to use it. We also have a vidcast:

Current information on the best databases for your subject is available on the library subject guides. These list the key and backup databases for each subject. Some quick links to help on our main databses are available on our database help page and you can contact your subject librarian for further details. They will be happy to meet you indiviaually or in small groups.

If you want to use our online database training, go to the main SMILE website.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Writing up your
search strategy

What is PRISMA?

PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. It is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The aim of the PRISMA Statement is to help authors improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PRISMA can also be used as a basis for reporting literature reviews for other types of research.

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SMIRK - using PRISMA by Marion Kelt and Larissa Kempenaar, GCU and The PRISMA Statement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.prisma-statement.org/index.htm.

# How does PRISMA
work?

There is a PRISMA Statement which is a 27-item checklist and a four-phase flow diagram. The checklist and diagram will evolve as new evidence emerges. It is an update and expansion of the older QUOROM Statement. The website contains the current definitive version of the PRISMA Statement.

The easiest way to use PRISMA is to download the PRISMA flow diagram as a word document to your computer and edit it to list the databases used and the number of references retrieved. If you go through it updating each part of the diagram, then it will give a logical description of the steps you have taken to complete your literature review. The next pages have more information on how to fill in the flow diagram.

If you want to go in to more detail, then you can download and use the 27-item checklist.

Now you have written up the search strategy, you may want more information on how to write a literature review.

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SMIRK - using PRISMA by Marion Kelt and Larissa Kempenaar, GCU and The PRISMA Statement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.prisma-statement.org/index.htm.

# How to use the PRISMA
flowchart

Step 1: Preparation
To complete the the PRISMA diagram print out a copy of the diagram to use alongside your searches. It is most efficient to search databases individually, so print out a copy for each database searched, plus a copy for the totals. If you are using this system for a more advanced assignment, such as a thesis, ask your supervisor whether they would like you to follow this system, or to specify totals for each individual database in your final PRISMA diagram.

Step 2: Doing the database search
For each database enter each key search term individually. This should include ALL your search terms, including MeSH or CINAHL headings, truncation (like hempileg*) and wildcard (like sul?ur) search terms.
Combine all the search terms in the different combinations using boolean operators like AND OR as appropriate. Apply all your limits (such as years of search, full-text only, English language only and so on).
Once all search terms have been combined and you have applied all relevant limits, you should have a number of records or articles. Enter this in the top left box of the PRISMA flow chart for each database.
If you have searched databases individually, add all the 'records identified' up and fill this total number in the PRISMA flow diagram which you will use for your coursework.
Remember this process of adding up the number of records in individual database searches to a total will need to be repeated at each step if you search databases separately.

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SMIRK - using PRISMA by Marion Kelt and Larissa Kempenaar, GCU and The PRISMA Statement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.prisma-statement.org/index.htm.

# Using PRISMA 2

Step 3: Additional sources If you have identified articles through other sources than databases (like manual searches through reference lists of articles you have found or Search engines like Google Scholar or Mednar), enter the total number of records in the box on the top right of the flow diagram.

Step 4: Remove all duplicates To avoid reviewing duplicate articles, you need to remove any articles that appear more than once. You will need to go through all the records or articles you have found in the database and manually remove any duplicates. This is not easy to do if you have a large number of articles at this point. In this case you may want to export the entire list of articles to RefWorks (including citation and abstract) and remove the duplicates there.
Enter the number of records left after you have removed the duplicate in the second box from the top.

Step 5: Screening articles The next step is to add in the number of articles that you have screened. This is the same number as you have entered in the duplicates removed box.

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SMIRK - using PRISMA by Marion Kelt and Larissa Kempenaar, GCU and The PRISMA Statement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.prisma-statement.org/index.htm.

# Using PRISMA 3

Step 6: Screening - Excluded articles You will now need to screen the titles and abstracts for articles which are relevant to your research question. Any articles that appear to help you provide an answer to your research question should be included. Record the number of articles excluded based on this screening process in the appropriate box (next to the total number of screened records) with a short reason for excluding these articles.

Step 7: Eligability Subtract the number of excluded articles following the screening phase (step 6) from the total number of records screened (step 5) and enter this number in the box titled "Full-text articles assessed for eligibility". Get the full text for these articles to review for eligibility.

Step 8: Eligability - Records excluded Review all full-text articles for eligibility to be included in the final review. Remember you should be left with 6-8 papers at this point. Take a note of the number of articles that you exclude at this point and enter this number in the correct box titled: Full text articles excluded and write in a short reason for excluding the articles (this may be the same reason used for the screening phase).

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SMIRK - using PRISMA by Marion Kelt and Larissa Kempenaar, GCU and The PRISMA Statement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.prisma-statement.org/index.htm.

# Using PRISMA 4

Step 9: Included The final step is to subtract the number of excluded articles or records during the eligibility review of full-texts (step 8) from the total number of articles reviewed for eligibility (step 7). The number you now have may vary depanding on the type of assignment you are completing - it should be between 6 and 8 records for the IPE coursework, but could be much more for a full systematic review - check with your tutor!. Enter this number in the final box. You have now completed your PRISMA flow diagram which you can now include in the results section of your assigment.

Now you have written up the search strategy, you may want more information on how to write a literature review.

This completes the section on database help, though you may want to check out our top tips for advanced Google searching.

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SMIRK - using PRISMA by Marion Kelt and Larissa Kempenaar, GCU and The PRISMA Statement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.prisma-statement.org/index.htm.

# Top tips for Google

Google is the best known and most popular internet search engine, probably because it is so easy to use. However, the quality and usefulness of the results depends on what you type in the search box! Knowing how to enter your search in order to get the most relevant results is quite a skill.

For tips on choosing keywords check out the keywords section of the How can I find information? pages or the Understanding the question unit.

Types of search engine

There are many different types of search engine. They all give different results. Some specialise in certain types of result. Here are a few examples:

- Web search engines - For general web searching, some examples: Google, Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves.
- Tabbed search engines - Display results from several search engines at once, allowing you to flick between the different results. Some examples: Zuula, Search!o.
- Gateways and portals - Searchable directories of quality-assured websites. Some examples:DMOZ, or The WWW virtual library.
- Human web search engines - Search blogs and discussion boards. Some examples: Boardreaderor Icerocket.
- Web archives - Search web pages which no longer exist and see websites as they were at certain points in the past, like Internet Archive.

Beginners tips for improving your search results

Unless you specify otherwise, Google automatically searches for all the words you type in to appear anywhere in the webpage or document, not necessarily next to each other.

- Search for a phrase - Use speech marks (“”) to search for words side by side, like “Tony Blair” 2005 election.
- Search for alternative words - Add OR to search for alternative words for example, university ORcollege OR “higher education”.
- Remove words from a search - Use a minus (-) symbol before the word to remove them from a search. For example Europe -EU will find anything mentioning Europe which does not refer to the EU.
- Fill in blanks - Use an asterisk (*) to replace a whole word or number, like “Top * destinations in Spain” will return hits including “top 10 destinations in Spain” and “top holiday destinations in Spain”.

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SMIRK - Top tips for Google by InfoSkills project, UEL modified by Marion Kelt, Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://infoskills.uelconnect.org.uk/pages/guides/122/making_the_most_of_google.html.

# Top tips for Google 2

Advanced Google searching and internet search strings

If you are confident with the basics of Google searching, the next level of search skills is using ‘search strings’. These are what advanced Internet searchers use to find exactly what they are looking for. A search string is comprised of a number of search commands which are typed in together.

Google have a full list of search commands. As an introduction, here are some of the main search commands you can use:

- site:[website domain] Limits results to that web domain. For example headache site:nhs.uk will search for the word ‘headache’ on the NHS webpages, while “international aid” site:gov.* will search for the phrase ‘international aid’ appearing on any government website (including gov.uk, gov.au, gov.ru, and so on).
- filetype:[file extension] Limits results to documents with certain file extensions. For example:filetype:pdf will return only pdfs, while filetype:ppt will return only PowerPoint presentations. Useful file extensions to know include: doc (Word), xls (Excel), ppt (PowerPoint), pdf (Adobe Acrobat), swf (Flash), mp3 and wma (music), mpg and wmv (video).
- [number]..[number] Searches for all numbers in that range. It can be particularly effective for date
  searching, like “Luther King” 1963..1968 will find anything referring to Martin Luther King between those dates.
- related:[web address] Finds similar pages to the web address you type in. For example:related:google.com finds other search engines.
- link:[web address] Returns webpages which link to that web address – often these will be pages on a similar topic.
- ~[word] Instructs Google to search for that word and any synonyms. For example: ~university will
  find any result which includes the word university or similar words such as college.
- Tip: Search commands work in reverse if you use a minus symbol. For example, to cut out all results from government websites, you might include -site:gov.* in your search, or to cut out Word documents from your results you might include: -filetype:doc.

Example Search String

For example, here is a search string you might use to find PowerPoint presentations about Martin Luther King’s speeches given between 1963 and 1967: “Luther King” ~speech 1963..1967 filetype:ppt.

This example consists of four components:

1) The phrase “Luther King”.
2) The thesaurus word ‘speech’.
3) The date range 1963 to 1967.
4) The file type ‘ppt’.

This is the end of our help with searching section. If you need more in-depth help, then contact your librarian.

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SMIRK - Top tips for Google by InfoSkills project, UEL modified by Marion Kelt, Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://infoskills.uelconnect.org.uk/pages/guides/122/making_the_most_of_google.html.

# Your librarian

Your subject librarian can help students and staff:

- find relevant information and create a search strategy
- use the many different resources and databases more effectively
- manage your research and keep up to date

You can:

- telephone 0141 331 3333
- email
  - Glasgow School for Business and Society lib-gsbs@gcu.ac.uk
  - School of Engineering and Built Environment lib-ebe@gcu.ac.uk
  - School of Health and Life Sciences lib-hls@gcu.ac.uk
- come to a drop-in session - Monday to Friday: 11am to12noon and 2pm to 3pm during trimester.
  Ask us any quick question like searching the catalogue, finding a book or journal, set up RefWorks and more.
- make an appointment with your subject librarian.
  For longer enquiries like dissertation resources, search strategies, group help and so on.
- go to The Library Desk. We may be able to see you straight away - ask the staff to phone us.

We'll meet you in Seminar room 2 on level 2 of the Saltire Centre.

For general enquiries about opening hours, problems with book renewals or fines, please contact The Library Desk directly.

Problems with passwords? Contact The Library Desk or the IT Helpdesk on 0141 273 1234.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/