Module 3 Searching for Information

For this module I searched in CINAHL, PubMed, National Guideline Clearinghouse and Google.   My search objective was to compare the use of heparin and aspirin versus IVIG in the treatment of recurrent miscarriage associated with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome.  Both CINAHL and PubMed returned many favorable results.  I had used PubMed before but not with the added controlled vocabulary of MeSH and using it made the search much more focused and more relevant.  CINAHL is a great resource with an easy way to export to EndNote.  I had not used the NGC webiste and found it to be useful and one that I will use with future research.  With NGC I didn't get nearly as many articles with my search, however, those that I did get were relevant to my research topic.

For my web search I used Google and, as I have experienced before, found many articles that were completely irrelevant to my research.  While Google is a good way to access general information about a topic, it does not allow for accessing many scholarly articles or full text articles as most require payment.  Being a student at the University of Utah, I am able to access full text articles in CINAHL easily as a link automatically comes up to do so.

This was a great research experience for me and will assist me with my future research strategies.