Workshops
Workshops will be held in the Learning Resource Center, Sackler 5. The librarians will review MEDLINE searching skills and answer questions regarding the assignment. Students will have an opportunity to begin the assignment.

Students are responsible for

• Attending your assigned workshop.
• Reading these instructions and asking your librarian or a librarian at the Library Service Desk on Sackler 4 for assistance if they are unclear or you need help.
• Submitting the assignment by midnight Monday, November 16, 2009. Two points will be deducted for late submissions.
• Contacting your librarian if you do not receive within a business day an email confirmation that your assignment was received.
• Retaining a copy of the assignment (i.e. cc yourself).

Librarians are responsible for

• Presenting an overview of the assignment during the October 20th lecture.
• Providing workshops for hands-on instruction and helping you begin work on the assignment.
• Offering assistance during workshops, at the Library Service Desk or through email. Librarians, however, will not grade the submission “on the spot” or answer the question: Is this the right answer?
• Returning graded assignments by December 9 via email.

Assignment

Search Ovid MEDLINE for four separate queries (see Ovid MEDLINE: Searching the Dental Literature for a brief tutorial):

1. Find an article available at Tufts electronically that discusses the risk factors for oral cancer in a dental journal.
2. Find an article on the prevalence of oral cancer in the United States.
3. Find a randomized controlled trial on infection control in dentistry.
4. Find a Cochrane Systematic Review on the treatment of oral cancer by using the Topic Reviews (Cochrane) limit.

Collecting the information

1. As you complete each MEDLINE search, email yourself the search history and selected citation using Ovid’s Results Manager (see also Managing Ovid Output):
• Check (Citation Title,Author,Source) under Fields.
• Check Include Search History.
• Click Email button under Actions.
• Complete the Email Citations form:
• Enter your email address in the To box.
• Check Include Search History.
2. Open a blank Word document.
• Number each query.
• Copy and paste its search history and your selected citation from your Ovid emails.
• Save your document as LastnameFirstname.doc (e.g., DoeJane.doc).

Submitting the assignment

• Email your completed assignment as an attachment to your designated librarian and yourself.
• Please use your Tufts email address and the Request a Return Receipt option.
• Using Tufts Webmail browse for your file, then click the Attach button.

Grading
The assignment accounts for 20% of the grade for Principles of Epidemiology. Each of the four queries is worth five points. Two points will be automatically deducted for late submissions. One point will be deducted for each of the following missing elements:

• Query I
  • Appropriate MeSH for the disease
  • Concept of risk is searched using either appropriate MeSH and/or subheadings
  • Local Holdings limit
  • Dentistry Journals limit
  • Relevant article citation
  • Available electronically full text from Tufts' collection
• Query II
  • Appropriate MeSH for the disease
  • Concept of prevalence is searched using either appropriate MeSH and/or subheadings
  • Appropriate geographic MeSH
  • MeSH are combined logically
  • Relevant article citation
• Query III
  • Appropriate MeSH for infection control
  • Dentistry Journals limit or appropriate MeSH used for the dental concept
  • Appropriate limit or MeSH for randomized controlled trials
  • MeSH are combined logically
  • Relevant article citation
• Query IV
  • Appropriate MeSH for the disease
  • Concept of treatment is searched using either appropriate MeSH and/or subheadings
  • EBM Reviews limit
  • Relevant article citation