Veidlapa Nr. M-3 (8)

Course Description Status: Approved

Course Description Version: 24/25.P.1.00

Description Period: 2024./25 academic year pavasara semestris

Study Course Accepted: -

Study Course Description

Information Literacy for Public Health

Main Study Course Information

Course Code
B_024
Branch of Science
Clinical medicine; Public and environmental health
ECTS
3.00
Target Audience
Public Health
LQF
Level 6
Study Type And Form
Full-Time

Study Course Implementer

Course Supervisor
Daiga Spila
Structure Unit Manager
Ināra Aploka
Structural Unit
Library
Contacts

Riga, 16 Dzirciema Street, biblioteka@rsu.lv

About Study Course

Objective

To improve the quality of study process by providing in-depth knowledge of the variety medicine and public health related information and to improve skills in searching, evaluating, retrieving and processing of medicine and public health related information.

Preliminary Knowledge

Basic computer skills, knowledge of the state language and English.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge

1.Upon successful completion of the course students will have acquired knowledge that will allow them to recognise and appreciate high quality, reliable, evaluated and scientific medical and public health information resources. Students will demonstrate information search tools and instruments, will develop appropriate search strategy and apply critical evaluation of the information found. The acquired knowledge will allow them to make precise references and the source lists as well as to use Web 2.0 tools and facilities to receive and organise the latest medical and health information.

Skills

1.Upon completion of the course students will be able to work independently with electronic resources in the field of medicine and health sciences, to use the advanced search skills for searching electronic information. They will be able to make bibliographical references, to carry out in-depth information search in online databases and the world peer-reviewed journal database PubMed, to develop precise search strategies and to save the results. Students will develop their digital skills related to data, information and digital content management. Students will be able to use digital technologies, create a personal profile in information resources, adapt their activities according to copyright and licenses, as well as be able to find and cite authors from digital content.

Competences

1.Students, applying the acquired theoretical and practical knowledge, will be able to carry out high quality, evaluated information search. They will independently analyse information search options and situations and will develop appropriate search strategy. They will critically analyse the reliability and usefulness of the information found, its compliance with the topic and specific situation and they will create complete reference lists.

Assessment

Individual work

Title
% from total grade
Grade
1.
Individual work
-
-
Independent and systematic learning from the indicated readings and information sources. Individual or group work in completing assignments on information search and presentation of the results. The student consolidates the acquired lecture material by reading the indicated sources, actively working with RSU subscribed databases and free access resources, performing independent work and submitting them. The aim of the practical work is to get acquainted with each resource, in which you can search for high-quality and evaluated information for your research work, to be able to evaluate the quality of resources in online resources, as well as to understand the connection between these resources for full text retrieval and reference.

Examination

Title
% from total grade
Grade
1.
Examination
-
-
Active participation in classes (20%). 100% independent work and homework (30%). Final test: exam (50%). Invitation to fill in the study course evaluation questionnaire.

Study Course Theme Plan

FULL-TIME
Part 1

  1. Information literacy. Information seeking. Define topic (keywords, search terms). Information retrieval techniques: basic and advanced search, phrase search, hyphenating, truncating, Boolean operators. Evaluating and saving information.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Computer room
2

  1. RSU subscribed databases, resources, tools. Access to RSU subscribed resources.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Searching for books, RSU academic staff publications and final theses in the electronic catalogue. Institutional repository: DSpace.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Catalogue and finding publications in library catalogues. Linking electronic catalogues to the Primo search engine.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. E-books databases: EBSCO, EbookCentral, AccessMedicine, ClinicalKey. Information searching, evaluating and saving the results.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Primo search tool. Tool: E-resources from A-Z.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Types of scientific journals. Electronic journals. Citation databases. Citing and referencing. Citing and referencing. Systems of referencing. References from databases, Primo tool. RSU rules for creating references.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Full text journal databases. Information searching, evaluating and saving the results. Retrieval of full texts of publications. Interlibrary loan.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Reference tool EndNote. Exporting and retrieving references.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Reference, encyclopaedia, news databases: Letonika, News.lv, Leta, Nozare, Britanica. Artificial Internet tools.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Free access internet resources. Internet searching systems. Searching for trustworthy and reliable medical information. Quality of information on the internet (principles of quality). Evaluating the quality of free access resources.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Database PubMed: Database PubMed: characteristics, creating an individual profile, search strategy, managing results, saving results.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. PubMed Tools: MeSH database (controlled medical vocabulary), Journal Database, Single Citation Matcher, PubMed Central. Linking PubMed with other resources (databases, EndNote, Primo), full text retrieval.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Characterization of evidence-based medical resources, information search specifics in them. Evidence-based databases available at RSU: DynaMed, ClinicalKey, Cochrane Library, UpToDate.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Free access evidence-based resources. Critical evaluation of medical publications.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2

  1. Linking resources for full-text retrieval. Course summary. Interactive test.

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Class/Seminar
On site
Computer room
2
Total ECTS (Creditpoints):
3.00
Contact hours:
32 Academic Hours
Final Examination:
Exam

Bibliography

Required Reading

1.

Mārtinsone K., Pipere A. Zinātniskā rakstīšana un pētījumu rezultātu izplatīšana / Kristīnes Mārtinsones un Anitas Piperes zinātniskajā redakcijā; autori: Uldis Berķis, Maija Dambrova, Inese Gobiņa, Kristīne Mārtinsone; Ivans Jānis Mihailovs [un vēl 7 autori]. Rīga: RSU, 2019.

2.

Spila D., Znotiņa I. Medicīnas informācijas pamatu apgūšana elektroniskajos resursos: Mācību materiāls informācijpratībā [Elektroniskais resurss]. Rīga: RSU, 2014.

3.

Spila D. Pasaules medicīnas citējamo žurnālu datubāze PubMed un informācijas meklēšanas iespējas: Mācību materiāls informācijpratībā [Elektroniskais resurss]. Rīga: RSU, 2013.

4.

The NCBI handbook [electronic publication]. cited 2023, January 5

5.

Thomas N, Franklin L, Crow S. Information Literacy And Information Skills Instruction: Applying Research To Practice In The 21St Century School Library [e-book]. Santa Barbara, Calif: Libraries Unlimited; 2011. Available from: eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost)

Additional Reading

1.

Mārtinsone, K., Pipere, A., Berķis, U., u.c. Zinātniskās darbības metodoloģija: starpdisciplināra perspektīva / K. Mārtinsones un A. Piperes zinātniskajā redakcijā. Rīga: RSU, 2021.

2.

Berkman, Robert I. Find It Fast : Extracting Expert Information From Social Networks, Big Data, Tweets, and More. Information Today, 2015. (EBSCO)

3.

Downey, Annie. Critical Information Literacy : Foundations, Inspiration, and Ideas. Library Juice Press, 2016. (EBSCO)

4.

Freedman T. Coming of age: an introduction to the NEW worldwide web [electronic publication]. cited 2015, May 25

5.

Teaching Information Literacy and Writing Studies : Volume 2, Upper-Level and Graduate Courses, edited by Grace Veach, Purdue University Press, 2019. (EBSCO)

6.

The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. 2023, Jan 5

Other Information Sources

1.

Apmācību ceļvedis Informācijpratība [Elektronisks resurss]. (05.01.2023).