New workshop series: Optimizing searches and identifying retracted literature
Introduction
This hybrid in-person and online workshop series is designed to help researchers, clinicians and information professionals improve their ability to find and evaluate evidence. Covering key aspects of evidence-based practice, literature evaluation and search optimization, these sessions provide strategies for enhancing research workflows and clinical decision-making.
All workshops will be offered in person and via Zoom, and will be recorded and made available to all who registered.
If attending online, please register in advance for each workshop. PLEASE NOTE: you must complete a separate registration for each online workshop you wish to attend.
For questions or more information, contact Tina Griffin, tmcg@uic.edu.
Troubleshooting PubMed Searches (Hybrid) - Nov. 4, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Gain insights into how PubMed’s search system works, recognize its quirks and refine your searches to improve relevance and reduce unnecessary results. When you search PubMed, are you sometimes confused by the results you receive? In this session, you will learn about some of the quirks of PubMed, and how these can impact which records are returned in the results. The goal of this session is to give better insights into how PubMed works, as well as potential options and limitations, for decreasing the number of irrelevant results.
In person: Library of the Health Sciences - Chicago - Room 123 Jonasson Classroom
Register to attend online
Finding Retractions (Hybrid) - Nov. 5, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Discover how to detect retracted research, understand retraction processes across different platforms and ensure the integrity of your sources. The production of new knowledge relies on scholarly conversation, usually through books and journal articles. We expect that those sources be true and accurate; however sometimes they aren’t, and they must be retracted. This webinar explores the definition of retractions, how they are documented in different platforms and what your options are for identifying them that you can integrate into your research workflow.
In person: Library of the Health Sciences - Chicago - Room 123 Jonasson Classroom
Register to attend online
Searching Using PubMed or CINAHL’s Clinical Queries (Hybrid) - Nov. 6, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Practice using built-in search tools designed to address clinical questions through PubMed and CINAHL’s Clinical Queries search interfaces and predefined filters. This session introduces participants to built-in search filters that streamline evidence retrieval in two major health sciences databases. The session demonstrates how to apply Clinical Queries in PubMed for biomedical and systematic review questions, and in CINAHL for nursing, allied health and qualitative research. Through examples and an interactive exercise, attendees will practice selecting the most appropriate database and filter for different clinical questions.
In person: Library of the Health Sciences Chicago - Room 123 Jonasson Classroom
Register to attend online