1. The Search Process Piece by Piece

2. The Pieces

3. Creating a well-built question that is answerable and contains the following elements: problem/population, intervention, comparison and outcome. Distilling the major concepts from the research question in order to derive search terms Identifying major stakeholders interested in your particular research topic in order to identify appropriate information sources, especially article databases. Searching using controlled vocabulary vs. keyword searching; to do a comprehensive search, both may be required and there is an art to keyword searching (i.e., synonyms and variant spellings) Applying exclusion and inclusion criteria (i.e., determining study types, population, language) Managing output (i.e., citation management, keeping search strategies, updating search results) Knowing when to stop and writing up the search process

4. Creating a well-built question – meet PICO Population/Problem What is the target disease/disorder/condition? Who is affected? Intervention What are you proposing to do to or for this particular population/problem? Comparison Is there a comparison to the Intervention? If there is no comparison, you can leave this blank. NB: with medications ‘placebo’ may be the comparison. Outcome What is it you seek to achieve or measure in the population/problem in terms of the Intervention? Is there a scale or measurement instrument that would quantify a change, e.g., Body Mass Index, Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly, Mini-Mental Status exam, Beck Inventory, etc.?

5. Creating a well-built question In people who smoke, do pictorial warnings improve the probability of quitting? Population/Problem : People who smoke Intervention: pictorial warnings Comparison: no warnings Outcome: reduced or termination of smoking In patients [include significant demographics] with [specify Target Problem ] does [specify Intervention] or [specify Comparison, if any] affect [specify Outcome]?

6. Problem/Population AND Intervention AND Comparison AND Outcome smokersPictorial warnings noneReduce or quit smoking Distilling the major concepts

7. Identifying major stakeholders: “Who cares about this?” Public Health Medical Practioners Tobacco industry MEDLINE (PubMed or Ovid MEDLINE) Web of Science Point-of-care tools (DynaMed)

8. Problem/Population AND Intervention AN D Comparison AND Outcome Smokers pictorial warnings Smoking cessation OR smok* Product labeling/product labelling smoking OR Tobacco productspackaging OR Tobacco use OR Searching using controlled vocabulary vs. keyword searching

9. ConceptsMeSH Smoking smokers tobacco Smoking Tobacco products Tobacco use Pictorial labeling Packaging Labeling/labelling product labeling Quit/stop smoking Reduce smoking Smoking cessation

10. Question Domains Foreground questions fall into general question domains. Each domain is best answered by particular study types. Study types are powerful limits to finding best evidence. Question DomainSuggested Best Study Types DiagnosisRCTs > prospective studies (which make a blind comparison to the gold standard) TherapyRCTs > cohort studies > case-control studies Etiology/HarmRCTs > cohort studies > case-control studies Prognosiscohort studies > case-control studies Economic Analysiscosts and cost analysis

11. Applying exclusion and inclusion criteria Ways to appropriate limit the results retrieved: Study type (‘hierarchy of ‘evidence) Population (adults, children, United States) Language Year of publication

12. Applying exclusion and inclusion criteria: Hierarchy of Evidence

13. Managing output Citation management Retaining search strategies Updating search results

14. Citation management options Tufts: EndNote Desktop EndNote Online Premium (cloud-based/sync with desktop version) RefWorks (cloud-based) Freely available (limited file storage capacity): Zotero (cloud-based/sync with desktop version) Mendeley (cloud-based/sync with desktop version) EndNote Online Basic (cloud-based)

15. Retaining and updating search strategies Create an account on the database, i.e., MyNCBI account (PubMed),My Account (Ovid) Save search strategies and citations Create alerts Send search strategies to others

16. Evidence Analysis Log

17. Literature Search Tracking Log

18. Knowing when to stop Same citations retrieved by different databases Citations you retrieve reference each other Recent, high-quality systematic reviews are available

19. Need Help? Toolbelt for Master of Nutrition Science and Policy (MNSP) Health and Nutrition Policy Systematic Reviews Systematic Reviews of Nutrition and Public Health Please contact me! Amy Lapidow amy.lapidow@tufts.edu 1.617.636.0892

20. Searching the Literature

21. Searching is an art and science Be flexible Look at the terms… would a machine think they are the same thing? Do you need all the terms you chose? Are there multiple forms of the word or is there a common word root you want?

22. What databases will be searched? Does the database have a controlled vocabulary (like MeSH)? How are the mechanics of the platform on which that database resides different from other databases? How does truncation work? How to search words next to each other? How do the citations get into the citation manager ? Is there a particular feature of the database to use?