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Searching the Literature and selecting the right references What Is a Literature Review? • A review of the literature is a classification and evaluation of what accredited scholars and researchers have written on a topic, organized according to a guiding concept such as research objective or the problem/issue you wish to address. Why perform literature review? 1. Saves yourself from work! Good sense of what has been thoroughly investigated and in what areas useful new work might be done. 2. Know the subject matter better Broader understanding of the question 3. Suggest new research topics, questions, methods Lit. Review: Not just a summary…. Information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently using manual or computerized methods to identify a set of potentially useful articles and books Critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify those studies which are unbiased and valid. ….but a conceptually organized synthesis of the search • Organize information: and relate it to the thesis or research question you are developing • Synthesize results: into a summary of what is and isn't known • Identify controversy: when it appears in the literature • Develop questions for further research Databases and basics of literature search • Medical library resources • Review articles • Databases of medical literature Medline Full-text databases Electronic journals Searching with PubMed http://www..pubmed.gov Developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine, located at National Institute of Health MEDLINE: • Bibliographic database covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and the preclinical sciences. • Contains bibliographic citations and author abstracts from more than 4,800 biomedical journals published in the United States and 70 other countries. • The database contains over 12 million citations dating back to the mid-1960s • Coverage is worldwide, but most records are from English-language sources or have English abstracts. * Keywords • Major concepts or variables of a research problem or topic used to search a database • May be single terms or phrase • Each keyword used should be listed in a written search plan Search strategies “Mass Drug Administration” “Lymphatic Filariasis” 66 786 “Filariasis” AND “Mass Drug Administration” 28 Search strategies “Mass Drug Administration” “Lymphatic Filariasis” 66 786 “Lymphatic Filariasis” OR “Mass Drug Administration” 824 Search strategies “Lymphatic Filariasis” “Mass Drug Administration” 758 “Filariasis” NOT “Mass Drug Administration” Limits • Publication type • Ages • Language • Publication date • Humans or animals • Gender • Entrez dates Obtaining articles • Full-text articles • Medical library • Full-text databases * Selecting Studies for the literature review • Read and critique studies. • Select those of highest quality. • Compare the purposes, methods, results, and findings of selected studies. • Develop a table that includes essential information from each study so that comparisons can be made. Construct an outline for literature review Develop a table of contents for the review • Create a concept map of the major topics and the subtopics • Build a step-by-step, hierarchical list of the points you plan to cover Writing a Review of the Literature • Outline – Introduction – Empirical literature – Summary Introduction • Indicates focus or purpose of review • Describes organization of review • Indicates basis for ordering – Most important to least – Earliest to most recent Empirical Literature • Includes quality studies relevant to topic • For each study, purpose, sample, sample size, design, and specific findings presented, using paraphrasing rather than direct quotes • Scholarly, but brief, critique of study’s strengths and weaknesses Ethical Issues • Content from studies must be presented honestly and not distorted to support a selected utilization project. • The weaknesses of a study need to be addressed, but it is not necessary to be highly critical of a researcher’s work. • Criticism should focus on the content, be related to your project, and be neutral and scholarly rather than negative and blaming. • Sources should be accurately documented. Summary • Concise presentation of the research knowledge about a selected topic—what is known and not known Title: Risk factors of leptospirosis in Andaman islands-a matched case-control study Objectives: To identify potentially modifiable risk factors associated with acute leptospirosis in Andaman islands • Introduction • Zoonotic disease of public health importance • About causative organism • Clinical manifestations, complications • Public health importance • Increase in incidence over the years • Large outbreaks in SE Asian countries • Important outbreaks in India • Animal reservoir • Rodents • Cattle • Other domestic animals • Wild animals • Modes of transmission • Direct • Indirect • Risk Factors Authors Year Title Place, country Sasaki DM etal 1993 Active surveillance and Hawaii, risk factors of leptospirosis USA in Hawaii Bovet P etal 1999 Risk factors associated with clinical leptospirosis-- Seychelles Sarkar U etal 2002 Population based casecontrol study of risk factors of leptospirosis during an urban epidemic Brazil • Active surveillance and risk factors in Hawaii • Objectives • Design • Case definition • Selection of cases, controls, matching • Results: use of water catchment systems Presence of Wounds Handling animals • Drawbacks: • Prevention and control • Depend on identifying source and interrupting transmission • Modifiable risk factors identified in earlier studies • Control measures based on modifying these risk factors • Summary Thank you