Before You Start: What is a Review Article? How to Narrow and Choose a Topic?
What is a Review Article?
A review article provides a summary of the findings of selected research
published by other authors. The purpose of a review article is to examine the current
state of relevant publications on a topic and to initiate discussion about
the research methodologies and the findings related to the topic.
A research article is a summary of original research (i.e. something
that is published for the first time), including a study
that an author did as well as the results.
How to Narrow and Choose a Topic?
As you search for and find information, you may need to
adjust your search if you are getting too many or too few
results. When choosing a topic, think about whether there have
been enough studies done on your topic. If you are not
finding much when searching, you may need to broaden
the focus of your topic.
Likewise, it may prove difficult to cope with the vast
literature on an un-focused, broad topic. So you will need
to narrow your results.
For help with searching for a topic, please come to the
Reference desk. Also, see the PubMed section below on this
page for specific suggestions on how to narrow a topic.
The importance of indexing
Indexing facilitates more precise search statements, especially for topics that are
vague or ambiguous.
Using index terms also helps you avoid the need to think of every possible synonym or
alternate spelling of your search terms.
Indexing means the citations in the database are assigned terms from a
controlled vocabulary; not all databases use a controlled vocabulary, however.
Index terms are sometimes called descriptors or thesaurusterms; in
PubMed they are called Medical Subject Headings, or MeSH.
More information can be found in the sections below.
Use Limits
to limit your search by language, age group, publication type, publication date, etc.
Also use Limits to search for words in the article title, abstract, or Medical Subject Heading (MeSH).
Note that Limits stay in effect until you clear them.
Use the Related Articles link, once you find a set of relevant citations
Use
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): Think of your concept narrowly and look at the MeSH definition.
Also pay attention to the date that the MeSH term was introduced.
MeSH is hierarchical. Take a look at All MeSH Categories. This link shows the top-level categories of MeSH. Click on any category to see how MeSH
narrows down. For any MeSH term, clicking on the full display will show
you all the available subheadings for that term. As you select terms,
add them to the search builder to begin building your search.
Global Health Citations in environmental and occupational health, food safety and
hygiene, infectious diseases, medical microbiology, nutrition, public
health, toxicology, zoonoses, and more. Sources include journals,
books, reports, conference proceedings, patents, theses, and electronic
only publications. Significantly more international coverage than
PubMed.
» Global Health does use a controlled vocabulary. Use the drop-down menu and
select Descriptors then click to browse the thesaurus.
You can search by (relatively narrow) geographic locations (ie, setting), or country in which work published.
» Global Health Help (PDF)
Web of Science
A large, multidisciplinary database that contains links to cited articles.
This database does not use a controlled vocabulary; it uses author keywords and keywords assigned algorithmically.
Best resource for cited reference searching; can sort search results by times cited.
» Search Tips for Web of Science » Cited Reference Searching
Submitting an Article for Publication in a Journal
How to find a journal's "Instructions for Authors":
Check a Web page for particular journal. Submission information is often listed.
Or, try searching this online database that
contains author instructions for many health sciences journal titles.
If you cannot find the journal online, check a recent printed issue. The Public Health Library's
print journal collection will likely have what you are looking for. Check
OskiCat for specific titles
and holdings information.
How to number lines in the body of a Word document:
Launch the Microsoft Word program
Navigate to the Page Layout tab
From a completely new, blank Word document:
From Line Numbers options select Continuous.
You will notice that while writing from a new line, it will show the line number
From specific parts of an existing Word document:
Select/highlight the document content
From Line Numbers options select Restart Each Page.
It will insert line numbers with each line of selected portion
To customize the way line numbers appear:
Go to Line Numbering Options from drop-down option
At Page Setup options, switch to Layout tab to change the layout of line
numbers. Click theLine Numbers button at the bottom of the dialog to configure advance
line numbers options.
RefWorks: Web-based
bibliographic management program. Citations can be formatted and merged into Microsoft
Word documents as footnotes or a custom bibliography. It is web-based and can be accessed
from any computer connected to the Internet. RefWorks is free for all UCB faculty, staff and
students. For help, see RefWorks Guides.
» You may also check to see if there are
upcoming classes
to learn how to use these programs, all of which greatly simplify keeping track of citations you find.
» EndNote and RefWorks exercise set
(Public Health Library). Note: The EndNote exercises are for version X4 but are similar to what you
would see in X5. Also, instructions for both Mac and PC are included.
to browse the thesaurus.
510-642-2511