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G o o g l e TM or PubMed

G o o g l e TM or PubMed. Which is Better for Medical Searching?. Agenda. Introduction Overview of Search Tools Strengths Coverage, Functionality, and Special Features Limitations Search Examples Recommendations Q&A. The Author.

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G o o g l e TM or PubMed

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  1. GoogleTM or PubMed Which is Better for Medical Searching?

  2. Agenda • Introduction • Overview of Search Tools • Strengths • Coverage, Functionality, and Special Features • Limitations • Search Examples • Recommendations • Q&A Denise O'Shea

  3. The Author • Former Technology Programs Manager for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Middle Atlantic Region • Certified Instructor for web searching courses such as Super Searcher • Librarian, experienced in web searching using a myriad of tools including PubMed, Google, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.Gov and much more… • I use Google often, when appropriate Denise O'Shea

  4. Objectives • Participants will be able to: • Communicate the differences between the Google, Google Scholar and PubMed and justify the choice of search engine for a given information need; • Evaluate medical research tools; • Demonstrate familiarity with resources covered in the course; Denise O'Shea

  5. Introduction • Compare these search tools and list what you think are the TWO most important search features in each: • GoogleTM • Google ScholarTM • PubMed Denise O'Shea

  6. Search Tools: Overview • It’s important to know: • How the different search tools work and how they are best utilized • The strengths and limitations of different search tools • Coverage and Currency: • How big is the database being used? • What does it contain? • How often is it updated or refreshed? Denise O'Shea

  7. PubMed vs. Google vs. Google Scholar • Google: searches over 8 billion web pages for general information • Google Scholar: searches the web for scholarly materials from broad areas of research • PubMed: a searchable collection of over 15 million bio-medical journal citations Denise O'Shea

  8. GoogleTM: Strengths • Simplicity, speed and coverage • Searches web pages, images, PDFs, Word documents and much more • Easy-to-use search interface Denise O'Shea

  9. Google ScholarTM Beta: Strengths • Easy means to access health literature and interdisciplinary topics • Useful for citation verification • Allows users to search inside the text of an article • Provides linking to free materials on the Web • Include reports and conferences proceedings from professional societies and associations • Access to Grey Literature • Backup for when local subscription links are not working Denise O'Shea

  10. PubMed: Strengths • Updated daily* • Sophisticated search tools • Related Articles / Abstract Plus • Good documentation • Links to local holdings • Ad free Denise O'Shea

  11. Google: Special Features • It uses a Boolean (and/or) search engine to find words in web-pages • It ranks pages according to the links on the page and the popularity of the pages that link to other pages • Automatic spellchecker Denise O'Shea

  12. Google Scholar: Special Features • Links to local holdings and to OCLC WorldCat with “one click” service • Locates chapters within multi-authored books and conference proceedings • Cited-by feature Denise O'Shea

  13. PubMed: Special Features • Uses MeSH headings to match synonyms • Manual indexing by subject experts can include words not contained in the abstract • Clipboard, RSS Feeds, e-mailed search results • You can customize your results page • Growing free content (PubMed Central) • Search history • Easily link to a vast array of other biomedical databases through global search Denise O'Shea

  14. Google: Limitations • Page ranking based on popular opinion • Timeliness • Does not suggest alternative search terms or synonyms • Limited field searching (can’t search based on age or gender, or search for a research method or publication type) • Limited Boolean logic, no truncation • No resorting by most current Denise O'Shea

  15. Google Scholar: Limitations • Software is in Beta • Coverage – no definition of ‘scholarly’ • Search results may not be as comprehensive or as current as you need • Bias towards older literature (due to ranking based on number of citations) • Fee-for-service document delivery • Sorting features (or lack there-of) • Does not always suggest alternative spellings Denise O'Shea

  16. PubMed: Limitations • Complex interface requires training to use effectively • Need to understand the structure & functionality of the database • Some features require the use of cookies • Some features require a login and password (MyNCBI) Denise O'Shea

  17. Search Examples • Demo Denise O'Shea

  18. To Google…or Not to Google? • Google: • Simple searches, quick reference tool • Not designed for comprehensive research or clinical questions • Google Scholar • Known item searching, to learn background info on a topic • Not designed for comprehensive research or clinical questions • PubMed: • Complex searches • Current information • Literature reviews (i.e., for grants, clinical trials or evidence based medicine), PICO • Ability to save searches, view search history, schedule e-alerts • Don’t use to search for general information on the Web Denise O'Shea

  19. A Selected List of Other Medical Search Tools • Scirus – a search engine for scientific, technical and medical data (http://www.scirus.com). Competitor to Google Scholar. • Relamed – searches PubMed and assigns relevance to results (http://www.relemed.com) • Hubmed – an alternative interface to PubMed (http://www.hubmed.org/) • Science Research Portal – a free, publicly available Internet web portal allowing access to numerous scientific journals and public science databases (http://www.scienceresearch.com/search/) • XplorMed – a word relationship search engine for PubMed (http://www.ogic.ca/projects/xplormed//). It searches for articles based on word semantics and relationships. • Plus bibliographic databases and full-text ejournals subscribed to by your library Denise O'Shea

  20. The Future • Google Co-op • Customized Search Engines • http://www.healthfind.com/ • Subscribed Links • http://google.com/coop/subscribedlinks/directory/Health • Topics • http://www.google.com/coop/topics/Health • PubMed RSS feeds • New/Noteworthy • NLM Tech Bulletin Denise O'Shea

  21. Q&A Denise O'Shea

  22. Reading & Further Resources • Giustini, D., & Barsky, E. (2005). A look at Google Scholar, PubMed...a comparison. JCHLA/JABSC, 26. • Giustini, D., & Barsky, E. (2005). Using Google Scholar in Health Research: A Comparison with PubMed. Paper presented at the CHLA/ABSC. from http://chla-absc.ca/2005/Presentations/0601/GiustiniBarsky_CHLA2005.pdf. • Henderson, J. (2005). Google Scholar: a source for clinicians? CMAJ, 172(12). • New Search Engine for Finding Articles in PubMed. (2007). from http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2007/03/05/new-search-engine-for-finding-articles-in-pubmed • UCLA. (2007). Google Scholar™, Search Engines, Databases, and the Research Process. from http://www2.library.ucla.edu/googlescholar/index.cfm • Vine, R. (2006). Google Scholar: A Source for Technicians. J Med Library Assoc., 94(1), 97-99. Denise O'Shea

  23. Contact Info Denise O’Shea Systems Librarian Fairleigh Dickinson University Teaneck and Madison, NJ oshea@fdu.edu Denise O'Shea

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