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This portal is a collaborative effort between Drs. Emily Humphreys and Amy Moy and the NECO Library to make journal reviews more accessible to preceptors. You can think of this as the “SparkNotes” of relevant optometric literature!
- A DIY Journal Club Packet that makes facilitating a journal club with the article of your choice a quick and easy process.
- On the left side of the page are links to PubMed searches of relevant studies published within the last year, listed by topic.
- Also on the left side are CASP Critical Appraisal Checklists, which offer further guidance on how to review studies such as RCTs and systematic reviews more thoroughly. You could use a CASP checklist in lieu of the provided student study guide.
Don’t forget to add the LibKey Nomad browser extension, which will allow you to access full text via the NECO Library wherever available on the web (including PubMed).
These checklists from the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme are designed to simplify the evaluation of research studies.
They are recommended for use in preparation for a journal club meeting, both by facilitators and student participants.
DIY Journal Club Packet
Preceptors: Have an article you want to use for journal club? Use Google NotebookLM to help you quickly create an article-specific guide to facilitate the conversation with your students.
Step 1:
Find the NECO-specific link to an article you wish to discuss with your students. It will need to either be open access, or from a journal to which the NECO Library subscribes:
- Make sure you have LibKey Nomad installed, and look for a Nomad button that says “Article PDF” or “Article Link” next to the citation. (Skip anything that says “Access options.”)
- Right click on the button and copy the article link address (this will be important later, as you will need to share this specific link with your students).
- For assistance with this process, email [email protected] and we will help you obtain the correct link to the article.
Step 2:
Download the article PDF.*
Step 3:
Log into NotebookLM with your NECO credentials. Create a “notebook” and upload the article PDF.*
Step 4:
Click the drop-down arrow below, and cut and paste the text into the notebook chat (where it says Start typing…) and click Send:
Prompt for NotebookLM
Step 5:
Click “Save to note” to save the output. It will appear in the lower right of your notebook in the Studio section. This is your preceptor guide.
Step 6:
Share the article link (not the PDF*) and the below guide with your students.
*Note that you cannot distribute the PDF, as it would violate NECO’s terms of agreement with publishers. Additionally, due to copyright restrictions, once you upload the article PDF you cannot share the NotebookLM notebook with anyone else.