Guide to Research and Referencing

Getting started	Literature reviews	Healthcare and medical databases	Finding grey literature
	Systematic reviews	Evidence-based medicine	PICO framework
Critical appraisal	Case studies	Clinical audits
Writing and referencing resources	EndNote	Remote Access

Getting started

[Guide/PDF] CM Health Library Research Guide [pdf] via CMDHB Health Library . A key guide to help you get started in research including key information on healthcare and evidence-based resources and databases available to CMDHB Health Library users.

(*Please note if you can't open the above link this may be because the guide is stored in Objective and as such on some PCs may only be able to be accessed using an internet explorer browser. Please request a copy directly from the library team - InterloansCMDHB@middlemore.co.nz . )

[Guide/PDF] Using research evidence: A practical guide via NESTA

This UK guide (Breckon, 2016) covers evidence-informed decision making, how to select the best evidence and how to communicate your findings.

[Tutorials/Learning modules] Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library > Tutorials via The Yale University Library

Yale University Library’s Cushing/Whitney Medical Library presents a range of tutorials around using specialised research databases, managing citations, and engaging in systematic searching through an evidence-based practice lens.

Literature reviews

[Guide/PDF] A guide to literature searching via CMDHB Health Library
This library guide outlines advanced searching methods in Ovid databases (eg: MedLine, EmBase, PsycINFO and AMED).

[Book] Systematic approaches to a successful literature review .(Andrew Booth, Anthea Sutton, Mark Clowes, Marrissa Martyn-St James. 2022). [Call number: W 20.5 SYS 3rd ed.)

[Book] The Literature Review: Six steps to success. (Machi, A., & McEvoy, B.T. 2016). [Call number: W20.5 M149 3^rd ed.]
Guide to completing a well-organised and effective literature review including topic selection, searching the literature, developing arguments, surveying/appraising information and writing the review.

[eBook] Rapid review guidebook: steps for conducting a rapid review . (Dobbins, 2017)
Rapid reviews follow the systematic review process but with components of the process simplified or omitted in order to improve timeliness. This guide follows the seven step process of evidence-informed decision-making promoted by the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT).

[eBook] Searching skills toolkit: Finding the evidence. (De Brún, N. & Pearce-Smith, C. 2014)
Covers building a search strategy, searching healthcare databases, using validated filters, carrying out snowball searching, appraising information and sourcing resources on quality improvement.

[Article] Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group offers evidence-informed guidance to conduct rapid reviews. Garritty et al. ). Journal of clinical epidemiology 130 (2021): 13-22

[Article] Evaluating literature review methodologies for policymakers. (Naylor, J., Jackson, C., & Donald, M. 2020).
Strengths and methodologies of different reviews including systematic, narrative, scoping, rapid and realist reviews.

[Article] A systematic approach to searching: An efficient and complete method to develop literature searches. Bramer, W.M., de Jonge, G.B., Rethlefsen, M.L., Mast, F., & Kleijnen, J. (2018). Journal of the Medical Library Association 106(4):53.
How to create a search strategy balancing sensitivity/specificity and translate search syntax between health science databases.

[Article] Reviewing the literature: choosing a review design . Noble H, Smith J. Evidence-Based Nursing 2018;21:39-41.

[Article] Searching for evidence in public health emergencies: a white paper of best practices. Brody, Stacy, et al. "Journal of the Medical Library Association 111.1/2 (2023): 566-578

[Article] Review Typology: The Basic Typ es of Reviews for Synthesizing Evidence for the Purpose of Knowledge Translation. Samnani SS, Vaska M, Ahmed S, Turin TC. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2017 Oct;27(10):635-641.

[Article] Ten simple rules for writing a literature review. Pautasso, M. (2013). PLoS Comput Biol, 9(7):e1003149.

[Tutorials] Cushing/Whitney Medical Library > Tutorials > Subjects > Systematic searches (via The Yale University Library)
The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library video tutorials on systematic searching are freely accessible to the public and include how to build a search strategy, how to use validated filters and how to refine searches.

[Tutorials] Literature searching
These learning modules are part of the e-LfH programme developed by Health Education England in partnership with the NHS (UK).

[Toolkit] NIH: US National Library of Medicine: MeSH OnDemand
This machine-reading online application generates MeSH terms from submitted text representing a useful tool for brainstorming search vocabularies.

see also

ISSG Search Filter Resource (ISSG SFR)

Search filters are sets of search terms designed to find studies of a specific design. They are an essential tool in searching for evidence. Filters may be sensitive/broad and are useful in identifying studies for evidence syntheses such as systematic reviews and in guideline development. The ISSG Search Filter Resource (ISSG SFR) has been developed to improve awareness of methodological search filters and to provide information on how to critically appraise filters.

Library of Search Strategy Resources - This is a living freely available resource for anyone sourcing and developing search strategies for healthcare topics. The resources are developed by the Evidence-Based Information Special Interest Group (EBI-SIG) within the European Association of Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL).

Tips, Tricks and Research Hacks noted by our Library team

Spidercite – "So psyched about this tool. You upload a list of seed articles from your reference manager (e.g. Endnote) and it gives you a list of references cited by the input articles, and references citing the input articles. It didn’t work in Chrome, and worked really well in Edge. I uploaded 5 articles and got 293 results in seconds." [18 May2023]
Elicit.org – an AI research assistant. I plugged in a suggested sample query: ‘what are the effects of sleep training on infants’ and it retrieved papers directly related to the topic. On left hand side was a summary of the top four papers. I couldn’t tell why these papers were the ‘top.’ I looked them up and they were all real. The number of citations ranged from 387 to 2. The papers were hyperlinked within the summary, which was helpful. Clicking on each paper reveals a pop-up window with lots of helpful information for a reviewer, including critiques and citations by other authors. Center-stage is the Results list, and you can filter by KW, date, PDF, or sort by date. [18 May 2023]
Litsense – described by its creators as “first web-based system that specializes in sentence retrieval for biomedical literature.” I plugged this phrase into the search box: ‘therapeutic use of ketogenic diet in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.’ At first glance, based on scanning the titles, the first 20 results were all highly relevant to the topic. The Results list contains minimal bibliographic information. I preferred to see more information like citation counts. Elicit.org had set my expectations too high. Still, it’s a pretty useful tool to generate seed articles for a review. [18 May 2023]

Healthcare and medical databases

The Counties Manukau Health Library provides staff with access to a comprehensive range of medical and healthcare databases including OvidSP platforms (Medline, Embase, PsycInfo), EbscoHost (CINAHL – Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature) and Cochrane Library. The following are useful database-specific tutorials and resources.

OVID

[Tutorials] Cushing/Whitney Medical Library > Tutorials> Subjects > Ovid Help (via The Yale University Library)

Selected Ovid help topics are available on how to formulate a research question, apply the PICO model, use MeSH terms and export results to EndNote and other referencing programmes.

EBSCOHOST

[Tutorials] Cushing/Whitney Medical Library > Tutorials > Subjects > CINAHL Help (via The Yale University Library)

Selected help topics are available on how to formulate a research question, apply the PICO model, use CINAHL headings, combine and limit searches and export results to EndNote and other referencing programmes.

[Tutorials] EBSCOConnect > EBSCOHost Tutorials

EBSCOConnect hosts a number of relevant training resources including:

· [Video] Basic searching on EBSCOhost [2:12]

· [Video] Advanced searching on EBSCOHost [2:38]

· [Video] CINAHL Advanced searching tutorial [3:45]

· [Video] CINAHL/MeSH Subject headings tutorial [3:32]

PROQUEST HEALTH RESEARCH PREMIUM COLLECTION

Library guides, videos and elearnng modules

PUBMED

[Tutorials] Cushing/Whitney Medical Library > Tutorials > Subjects > PubMed Help (via The Yale University Library)

Selected PubMed help topics are available on finding evidence, saving search strategies and exporting your results to referencing programmes such as EndNote.

[Tutorials] NCBI > Tutorials > PubMed (via YouTube) Please use Chrome or Firefox to open the link and access this resource: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBD13A2628C7A9965

These short video tutorials developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) helps you build a better query by using advanced PubMed search techniques, MeSH terms and filters.

EMBASE

Embase 201 – Systematic Reviews

Embase allows you to build comprehensive systematic reviews so that you can thoroughly review all of the published literature on a particular topic and make the best-informed evidence-based medicine decisions. The Cochrane Collaboration recommends Embase as a
key database for such systematic reviews because it is so highly suited to this task thanks to the large, comprehensive and deeply indexed database and the flexibility of the search strategy. In this guide, you will learn the fundamentals of creating systematic reviews. We’ll discuss
the PICO framework and how it supports systematic search construction. We’ll also give you some tips and tricks for getting the most out of Embase.

COCHRANE DATABASE OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

[Tutorials] Cochrane Library Training Hub (via Wiley) Please use Chrome or Firefox to open the link and access this resource: https://www-wiley-com.cmdhb.idm.oclc.org/network/cochranelibrarytraining

Provides access to a number of guides, videos and webinars including:

[PDF] Cochrane Library User Guide
[PDF] How to get started with PICO search
[Video] Searching the Cochrane Library [2:51]
[Video] How to use MeSH in the Cochrane Library [8.29]

Searching the grey literature

Comprehensive literature searches, especially those that lead to a systematic review, need to include grey literature searches to minimise publication or reporting biases.

[Tutorials/Learning modules] Cushing/Whitney Medical Library > Tutorials > Finding grey literature (via Yale University Library)

A look at the rationale for searching grey literature for health science research.

[Guide] How to search the grey literature [5:33] (via The University of Otago)

From using Google to appraising the grey literature this library guide from the Wellington Medical and Health Science Library includes tips for searching Google and Google Scholar and provides an essential list of NZ and international grey literature sites for healthcare research.

[Guide] Grey literature in health (via The University of Otago)

A guide to grey literature searching for healthcare research.

Systematic reviews

“Systematic reviews involve collating evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a given research question; methods are explicitly documented with an advance protocol to minimise bias.” (Higgins et al., 2020)

Auckland University Library Guide to conducting a systematic review

[Guide] Yale University Library Research Guides > Systematic reviews: Planning, writing and supporting (via The Yale University Library)

This guide covers the following aspects of systematic reviews: introduction, process, databases/grey literature, strategy development, project management and write up.

[Guide] Cochrane Handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Version 6.1. (Higgins et al., 2020)

This handbook guides on the methodologies used to carry out systematic reviews on the effects of interventions.

[Guide] The Joanna Briggs Institute reviewers’ manual 2014: The systematic review of economic evaluation evidence (The Joanna Briggs Institute, 2014)

This document guides reviews with the objective of identifying and summarising the best available evidence for a question about intervention cost(s) relative to benefits. It also guides on mixed method reviews aiming to synthesise evidence for questions about intervention resource costs and cost effectiveness.

[Article] Learning how to undertake a systematic review: Part 1. Bettany-Saltikov, J. (2010). Nursing Standard 24(50):47-56.

How to conduct systematic reviews including selecting study design, review planning, writing a protocol and summarising criteria for inclusion.

[Article] How to Read a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis and Apply the Results to Patient Care: Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature. Murad M.H., et al. (2014). JAMA 312(2):171-179.

How to apply the results of a systematic review or meta-analysis with examples.

[Article] How to write an introduction and methods of a systematic review of literature. Malik, M.A. (2014). Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association 64(10):1208-1210.

An introduction to reporting guidelines for systematic reviews.

[Book] The Literature Review: Six steps to success. 3^rd ed.
(Lawrence Machi & Brenda McEvoy, 2016) [W20.5 M149 3^rd ed.]

An intuitive six-step process around literature searching and writing a review.

[Book chapter] Appraising and understanding systematic reviews of qualitative and quantitative evidence. In: Evidence-Based Practice across the Health Professions 2^nd ed. (Tammy Hoffmann, Sally Bennett & Chris Del Mar, 2013) [Call number: W84 H711 2^nd ed] Please ask a librarian for help with borrowing this item as it is located in Esme Green

This book explores the practice of finding and using evidence to inform decision-making across a range of healthcare roles and includes clinical scenarios.

[Standards] Finding What Works in Health Care: Standards for Systematic Reviews. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Available to download with free registration and login to an MYNAP account via National Academies Press.

Outline of framework for developing high-quality systematic reviews addressing topic formulation, finding/assessing studies and producing the final evidence synthesis.

[Tutorials/Learning modules] Interactive learning modules (via Cochrane)

Cochrane tutorials are accessible via a paywall however the first module is free upon registration (see: Module 1: Introduction to conducting systematic reviews).

Systematic Review Accelerator (SRA)

The SRA is a suite of automation tools built to make conducting all types of evidence reviews or synthesis easier and faster. The SRA has been developed by the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare at Bond University.

The following tools are freely available on the Systematic Review Accelerator:

Methods Wizard: guides users through developing the protocol of their systematic review; on completion, writes a first draft of the protocol’s methods section
Word Frequency Analyser: assists with designing the search strings by analysing the most commonly recurring terms in an uploaded library of articles
SearchRefinery: visualises the impact of adding or subtracting terms from a search string
Polyglot Search Translator: translates the search string between multiple databases
Deduplicator: identifies and removes duplicate studies from search results
SARA: sends multiple document delivery requests to the library in a single push of a button, rather than manually entering and submitting multiple references one at a time (Bond University-specific)
Screenatron: allows mapping of hotkeys and user-selected term highlighting to expedite the screening of studies
Disputatron: detects screening decision disagreements between reviewers, and enables their resolution
SpiderCite: a citation searching tool which automatically conducts a forward (citing) and backwards (cited) search on the studies included in the systematic review.
RevMan Replicant: automatically writes up the meta-analyses (forest plots) from RevMan file, thus decreasing transcription errors and time to complete the write-up

Online Automation Tool Workshops

The team at Bond University has designed a number of online workshops to teach people how to use the tools. There are a number of dates and times available for each workshop. For more information and to register, please visit their website: https://bond.edu.au/iebh/workshops/upcoming-workshops

DATABASES OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

[Database] The Cochrane Library

Leading journal and database on systematic reviews in healthcare.

[Database] Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)

Systematic reviews of health and social care interventions.

[Database] McAster PLUS Evidence Alerts

Evidence Alerts is a free service which sends out email notifications about newly-published high quality clinical studies, reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. Alerts can be curated to your own clinical interests.

[Database] Health Evidence

Database of over 6,500 quality-rated reviews on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of public health interventions.

[Database] Health Systems Evidence

Access point for evidence to support policy makers, stakeholders and researchers tasked with strengthening health systems and how to get cost-effective programmes, services and medication to those who need them.

Evidence-based medicine resources

[Guide] Guide to Evidence-based medicine. (UpToDate, 2018)

The basic elements of Evidenc-Based Medicine are reviewed here:

Formulating a clinical question;
Finding the best available evidence;
Assessing the validity of the evidence; and
Applying the evidence in practice in conjunction with clinical expertise and patient preferences.

[Article] Searching for the right evidence: How to answer your clinical questions using the 6S hierarchy. Windish, D. (2013). Evidence-Based Medicine 18(3): 93-97.

[Book] How to read a paper: The basics of evidence-based medicine. 5th ed. Trisha Greenhalgh. (2014). [Call number: WB 141 G813 5^th ed]

How to Read a Paper demystifies Evidence-Based Medicine and explains how to critically appraise published research and put research findings into practice in a patient-centered way.

[Book] Users' guides to the medical literature: A manual for evidence-based clinical practice. Gordon Guyatt et al. (2014). [Call number: W 20.5 A986]

[Book] Evidence-based practice across the health professions. 2nd ed. Tammy Hoffmann, Sally Bennett & Chris Del Mar. (2013). [Call number: W 84 H711 2^nd ed] Please ask a librarian for help with borrowing this item as it is located in Esme Green

[eBook] How to implement evidence-based healthcare. Trisha Greenhalgh. (2017).

Makes sense of the complex landscape of implementation science, the role of research impact and how to avoid research waste.

[eBook] Philosophy of Evidence-based Medicine. Jeremy Howick. (2014).

[eBook chapter] Evidence-based medicine. In: Emergency Medicine. Ashley Shreves, Kavita Bhanot & David Newman. (2013).

[eBook] Symptom to diagnosis : an evidence-based guide. Scott Stern, Adam Cifu & Diane Altkorn. (2010).

[eBook chapters] Clinical Key book chapter excerpts on “Evidence-based medicine”. [682 results]

[Tutorials/Learning modules] Evidence informed public health (via National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools)

Access the 6S search pyramid tool and create a free account with NCCMT to access the individual Evidence-Informed Decision Making (EIDM) skills assessment and complete learning modules including EIDM Essentials: Key issues in evidence informed decision making.

PICO framework

[Tutorials/Learning modules] Cochrane Library Tutorial - PICO: Formulate an answerable question via Wiley

[Widget] Ovid PICO Resource Center via Wolters Kluver

A widget to do a quick lookup in Ovid Medline, Embase or PsycInfo databases.

[Article] The impact of patient, intervention, comparison, outcome (PICO) as a search strategy tool on literature search quality: A systematic review. Eriksen, M.B., & Frandsen, T.F. (2018). Journal of the Medical Library Association 106(4): 420.

Review on using the PICO model as a framework to conduct a systematic literature searches and whether this improves the quality of returned results.

[Article] To make your case, start with a PICOT question. Echevarria, I.M., & Walker, S. (2014). Nursing 44(2): 18-19.

Overview of the PICO model and question framework.

[Article] Using PICO and the brief report to answer clinical questions. Elkins, MY. (2010). Nursing 40(4): 59-60.

Critical appraisal

[Tutorials/Learning modules] Finding and appraising the evidence (HealthKnowledge, UK)

How to find evidence and assess the validity and reliability of that evidence for effective and efficient healthcare provision including modules on: Critical appraisal, Finding the evidence, Randomised controlled trials, Systematic reviews, Economic evaluations and Making sense of the results.

[Toolkit] Understanding Health Research: A tool for making sense of health studies (via University of Glasgow)
This tool will guide you through a series of questions to help you to interpret a published health research paper including: Asking the right questions, Scientific uncertainty, How science media stories work and Common sources of bias.

[Toolkit] Grading Guide (via UpToDate)

UpToDate editorial policies around grading using the international GRADE group system which classifies quality of evidence according to factors that include risk of bias, precision of estimates, result consistency and directness of the evidence.

[Article] GRADE Evidence to Decision (EtD) frameworks: a systematic and transparent approach to making well informed healthcare choices. 1: Introduction. Alonso-Coello, Pablo, et al. (2016). British Medical Journal 353.

Discusses the importance of using explicit and transparent systems for decision making in the context of clinical recommendations and health system or public health recommendations including EtD frameworks which help people use evidence in a structured and transparent way to inform decisions.

Critically Appraising for Antiracism Tool: Identifying racial bias in published research

Racial bias in research impacts a study’s relevancy, validity and reliability, though presently this aspect is not addressed in critical appraisal tools, and consequently appraisers may often not take racial bias into account when assessing a paper’s quality. In response to this, a supplementary tool has been developed, to support appraisers in explicitly addressing racial bias. Critically appraising for antiracism not only alerts a consumer of limitations in published research, giving them an idea of a study’s strength and methodological robustness, but this process also underlines the importance of diversity from the beginning of the research cycle, and in doing so supports researchers of the future to overcome these limitations.

Case studies

[Article] The power of the case study within practice, education and research. Short, M., Barton, H., Cooper, B., Woolven, M., Loos, M., & Devos, J. (2017). Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education 19(1): 92-106.

[Article] Guidelines to the writing of case studies. Budgell, B. (2008). Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association 52(4):199-204.

Clinical audits

[Report] Toward Clinical Excellence: An Introduction to Clinical Audit, Peer Review and Other Clinical Practice Improvements. New Zealand Ministry of Health. (2002).

Offers a practical how to guide for those with little experience of peer review or clinical audit and identifies resources that offer more in depth information.

[Website] NHS England Clinica l Audit via NHS

Information on clinical audits and The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP).

Best practice in clinical audit. Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership. (2016).

The purpose of this document is to set out updated criteria for best practice in local clinical audit including guidance for clinicians and clinical audit staff on how to plan, design and carry out clinical audit projects that will deliver improvements in the quality of services.

[eBook] 101 Recipes For Audit In Psychiatry. Oakley, Clare. (2011).

[Article] Clinical audit: shining a light on good practice. Grainger, A. (2010). Nursing Management 17(4):30-33.

[Article] Achieving quality assurance through clinical audit. Patel, S. (2010). Nursing Management 17(3):28-34.

Writing and referencing resources

QuickCite
It's the site University of Auckland refers students too. It has lots of APA examples but also provides information about other Reference styles

[Book] Publication manual of the American Psychological Association 7^th ed. (APA, 2019) [Call number: WM20 P976 7^th ed.]

The official source for referencing in the latest format/edition of APA style offering guidance on headings, tables, figures, language and writing tone to achieve elegant and concise scholarly communication.

[Guide] Referencing and APA style guide (7th ed.) (AUT)

[Guide] APA Interactive (7^th ed.) via Massey University

Interactive examples of how to format APA Style references and in-text citations. Massey University maintains a useful directory of Referencing software.

[Book] Writing for publication in nursing Marilyn H. Oermann and Judith C. Hays. (2010). [Call number: WY20.5 O29]

[Article] Publish or perish: Getting yourself published. Costello, J. (2012). Journal of Renal Nursing 4(3):146-149.

[Article] Writing and publishing clinical articles: a practical guide. Happell, B. (2012). Emergency Nurse 20(1):33-38.

[Video - 90 minutes] Health research writing masterclass: creating a culture of evidence. (2021) Elsevier

Top of page

EndNote

EndNote is a program for storing and managing bibliographic references. The references can be sorted and searched and automatically incorporated into Word documents. EndNote may be installed on a designated work computer or laptop for any CM Health staff member . If you would like Endnote installed please log a software request on the Health Alliance Services Portal (Request an IT service >> New licensed software>>Select Endnote ). Currently Health Alliance is in the process of rolling out deployment of EndNote 20. * The cost to install is $15 - you will need to provide an RC code and get approval from your manager when applying)

Guides to using EndNote 20 - includes short videos, guides and online learning modules

Note: If after you have EndNote 20 installed, the EndNote tab does not appear on word please follow the instructions below:

Windows

To reinstate the EndNote tab in Word on Windows devices, please follow the instructions below in the first instance:

In Word, click the File tab and choose Options.
Select Add-Ins from the left hand menu.
Under the heading Active Application Add-ins, check whether you have the EndNote Cite While You Write COM Add-in (see the Type column).
If it is not listed, then go down to the bottom of the window to the Manage drop-down list.
With COM Add-ins showing, click Go...
If CWYW is installed, then EndNote Cite While You Write will appear as one of the add-ins available. Make sure the box beside it is ticked, then click OK.
The EndNote ribbon should appear immediately in Word.

Open source alternatives to EndNote

Zotero [Not compatible with Internet Explorer]

Mendeley

Mendeley Desktop is free academic software for organizing and sharing research papers and generating bibliographies with 1GB of free online storage to automatically back up and synchronize your library across desktop, web and mobile.

[Guide] Help guides
[FAQs] Frequently Asked Questions