UniSA Online - HLTH 2035: Human Nutrition - Nutrition and Food Science

1. What do you need to do?

For this assignment you need to find and use scientific evidence.

Remember to read all the information on your course website related to your assessment to understand exactly what you need to do.

Example dietary pattern:
Does a paleo diet reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease?

2. What is scientific evidence?

Scientific evidence includes peer reviewed journal articles such as systematic reviews, meta analyses, or original (empirical) research.

Drag the vertical bar below to reveal information about research and review articles.

More information:

3. Build your search

Before you start looking for information, use the following steps to plan your search:

1. Define any words you are unsure of.

2. Identify the main ideas (key concepts) in the statement. These will form the foundation of your search.

3. Make a list of any synonyms or related keywords for each key concept.
Consider any:

word plurals - disease / diseases
different word forms - paleo / palaeolithic
different word spellings - palaeolithic / paleolithic
common acronyms - CVD / cardiovascular disease

For example:

Key concept

Synonyms/alternative concepts

Tips

Paleo diet

caveman diet
hunter-gatherer diet
paleolithic diet
palaeolithic diet
stone age diet...

You can search more broadly on macronutrient deficiencies that may result from the diet by adding these to your list.

Cardiovascular

disease

cardiovascular disease
CVD
heart disease
vascular disease

You can try searching on the relevant body part or system, for example heart, cardiovascular, blood vessel.

4. Build your search. Use the connectors AND and OR to combine your concepts into different search strategies.

AND connects each different concept.
OR connects your synonyms (alternative terms).

For example:

	Building your search
Concept 1	paleo diet OR paleolithic diet OR caveman diet OR hunter gatherer diet OR stone age diet
	AND
Concept 2	cardiovascular disease OR CVD OR heart disease OR vascular disease OR heart

More information:

4. Where to search

Google Scholar

Google Scholar can be a useful place to start looking for scientific evidence. The following video will step you through how to search:
Advanced Google Scholar search (1:21)

Ovid Emcare

Ovid Emcare is a key database for health sciences and contains scholarly and peer-reviewed literature in nursing and allied health.

Ovid Emcare

5. How to search in databases

In Ovid Emcare you will need to search each different concept one at a time.

Step 1
Deselect Map term to Subject Heading so you just do a keyword search.

Step 2
Enter your first concept into the search box. Use OR to connect any synonyms. Select Search.

Step 3
Enter your second concept into the search box. Again use OR to connect any synonyms. Select Search.

Step 4
Once you have searched for each of your different concepts you can combine them using AND to form your final search.

Step 5
Scroll down to see your search results.

Yellow light bulb idea icon. Tip: You can use this method to search other databases like Medline and Scopus.

6. How to find systematic reviews

You can search for systematic reviews and meta analyses in these databases:

Limit your search to systematic reviews in the database:

Search keyword systematic review as a third concept
Note: make sure to untick box Map term to Subject Heading
Use AND to combine all your concepts

Note: with Ovid databases such as MEDLINE and Emcare, you may also use Additional Limits to narrow your Publication types to systematic review and meta-analysis (hold down CTRL key to select multiple items).

Search example in Scopus

Note: In Scopus, use double quotation marks to search phrase. E.g. "paleolithic diet*"

7. Get more help

Study Help: Online resources hub
A range of resources to help you complete your assignments and improve your study skills.
Referencing website
Help with various referencing styles. Find in-text citations and reference examples from different sources such as articles, books and chapters, websites and more. (Always check your Course Outline or LearnOnline site for the citation style required for your course.)