Barbara's Basics for Department of Health Sciences: Improve Your Library Research Skills

Improve Your Library Research Skills

Find It

New to library research? Has it been awhile since you wrote a research paper?

• Don't forget, "OR" finds more.
  • University of Minnesota Libraries: Library Search Tips (including Boolean searching and more)
  • Database Search Tips: Boolean Operators and more (MIT Libraries)
  • How Do I Create a Search Strategy (Hands-on Tutorial from the University of Arizona)
    • Library databases work differently from Google. Learn how to create a search strategy for library databases.
  • Cool Tool: Search Strategy Builder (built by the University of Arizona Libraries)
    • A tool designed to teach you how to create a search string using Boolean logic. While it is not a database and is not designed to input a search, you should be able to cut and paste the results into most databases’ search boxes.
• The Quick Tips on New to HSL will help you with 
  • Finding Articles & Journals
  • Finding Books

Use this guide to help visualize and plan your search:

• Purdue University Libraries: Creating a Search Strategy guide
  • Dowload Purdue University Libraries' Search Statement Worksheet (.pdf)

Use this guide to learn to ask good clinical questions and use the PICO format to search for the best evidence:

• Forming Focused Questions with PICO
• PICO (Patient or problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome)
  • Helps you form a focused question that will return relevant results
  • Helps you retrieve a manageable amount of results
  • Assists you in brainstorming keywords for your research
  • Saves time!

Use this log to keep your search organized and to document your search strategy for reporting:

Get It

Don't forget, we can get you any article you need.

• Use the 'Find @ UNC' link in database search results to look for full text. See Full-Text Articles via Find@UNC for more information
• When the article is not online, use the options at the bottom of the Find @ UNC page to search the catalog for print or to request the article via Interlibrary Loan.
• Is the book you want in circulation or does the library not own it? Use Interlibrary Loan to place a hold or request a book from another library (free to you).
• Learn more about Interlibrary Loan.

Read It

Learn about Scholarly Research Articles.

• Understand the structure of medical research articles to read more efficiently. Use the Structure of Scholarly Articles and Peer Review guide to learn more. 
  • Includes a comparison of scholarly journals, professional trade journals, and popular or newstand magazines.

Learn about Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources. 

• In this guide from the University of Minnesota Health Sciences Sciences Libraries, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources in the Health Sciences, learn whether sources are considered primary, secondary, or tertiary depending on the originality of the information presented and their proximity or how close they are to the source of information.

Judge It

Once you find it, how do you know it is any good?

• Evaluating Information tutorial from Johns Hopkins University will help you learn how to choose quality research.
  • How to evaluate information, from social media and internet resources to scholarly articles.
• Learn about Peer Review and how to know if an article has been peer reviewed.

Critical thinking is a key skill in information literacy, along with the related skill of media literacy.  Discussion of “fake news” has led to renewed focus on these skills and the importance of colleges and universities providing education in these areas. IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations has provided this infographic, available in multiple languages, with eight simple steps (based on FactCheck.org’s 2016 article How to Spot Fake News)  to discover the verifiability of a given news-piece in front of you. 

See, also: IFLA's "How to Spot Fake News - COVID-1 Edition, 8-31-2021.

By IFLA (http://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174) [CC BY 4.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Save It

Don't forget, stay organized:

• Register for a free UNC account to try out the bibliographic citation manager  Sciwheel
• Sciwheel registration & set-up
  • Sciwheel Guide
• For other options, consult the comparison chart at the bottom of the page on Choosing a Citation Manager.

Librarians  Rock

Ask Us whenever you need help.

• Ask HSL: Email, text, check our FAQs, or meet with a librarian. We can save you time. We really mean it!