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PT 7327: Research in Physical Therapy I

This course guide was created for Professor Denise Gobert's PT 7327 (Research I) class.

Getting Started with Searching

There are many different ways to search for information in databases.

Here is one way to get you started with searching:

  1. Identify main concepts for your topic.
  2. Enter the search terms along with Database Commands into the search box. 
  3. Identify relevant results.  
  4. Email or export relevant articles.

Search Tips:

  • Keep track of the terms you've searched to avoid repeating searches.
  • Look up subject or Mesh terms for your search terms and use those as keywords.
  • Consider using a citation manager, such as Refworks, to export citations of relevant results along the way. 

Need help with searching? Ask a Librarian for help.

5 Tips for Keyword Searching

Start Your Research Quick Introduction

SYR versus Databases

What is the difference between searching Start Your Research versus a subject Database?

  • Start Your Research
    • Searches just about everything the library owns.
      • Books, eBooks, Subject Database (medical, literature, social science etc...), Streaming Video, etc...
    • SYR is great when you aren't sure which databases to search.
  • Databases
    • Searches fewer resources such as journals, magazines, and newspapers in a specific discipline like Nursing.
    • Searching a specific database is great if you need a specific type of resource like an article from an academic journal in a specific field of study.

 

Finding Specific Articles or Journals

If you come across a citation to an article and you'd like to track down its full text, here are a couple of options:

"qualitative study of determinants of ptsd treatment initiation"

 

Additional Ways to find articles

Change your search terms

  • Figure out the terms that the database uses for your concepts by seeing the subject headings or MeSH terms found in the article records of relevant results.

 

  • If a database has a thesaurus (Subject Headings, MeSH terms), you can browse it for subject headings, see the scope note or definition of a subject heading, and see related terms that you might use. 

 

Bibliographies

  • When you identify an article that is useful, check the bibliography of the article to find additional resources.

 

  • Once you find an article(s), you can check to see if the library provides access by searching for the title of the article in Start Your Research. Be sure to place quotations around the title. Another option is to search for the journal title in the Journals/Periodicals list.

 

  • The bibliography in Systematic Review articles and Dissertations and Theses are also great resources for finding additional research articles and books.

Citation Analysis

Citation Analysis involves finding articles that have cited an article of interest.  There are a multiple ways to do this on the library website including using the following databases:

1. Google Scholar

2. Web of Science

3. Scopus

 

Citation Analysis using Google Scholar

1. Access Google Scholar on the Databases page.

2.  Search for the title of the original article (or do a keyword search).

3.  On the results page, click the "Cited by" link underneath the description of the article(s).

Screenshot of Google Scholar article search with the "Cited by" link highlighted.

Citation Analysis using Web of Science

1.  Access the database Web of Science on the Databases page.

2.  Do a title search for the article title (you can also do a topic search if you don't have a specific article identified).

3. On the results page, click the Citations link to retrieve a list of articles that have cited the original article.

Pro Tip: Sort by Citations: highest

Results page in the database Web of Science. The results are sorted by Citations highest. The number of citations for each article are highlighted.

 

 

Citation Analysis using Scopus

 

1. Access the database Scopus on the Databases page.

2.You can search for an article title or you can do a keyword search if you don't have a specific article identified (example pictured below).

3.  On the results page, click the Citations link to retrieve a list of articles that have cited the original article.

Pro Tip: Sort by Citations: highest

Screenshot of Scopus search page with a keyword search typed in the search box. The search results are displayed and the citation counts for each article in the results list are hightlighted.

 

 

Systematic Reviews

  • Systematic Reviews are articles that review multiple research studies on a specific treatment.

 

  • Search for a systematic review on a treatment/intervention/comparison to find research studies. 

 

  • Databases that allow you to limit your search results to systematic reviews include: