Developing a Search Strategy
Write out your research thesis as completely as possible. If there are multiple objectives, write a statement for each one.
Do this for each research question you developed, above.
For each concept, list various synonyms.
- generic and trade names for drugs
- variant spellings (i.e., "estrogen" OR "oestrogen")
- abbreviations ("ALS" OR "amyotrophic lateral sclerosis")
Truncation allows you to search for the root of a word and all its variant endings.
- The asterisk -- * -- is the most common truncation symbol. It is used in PubMed.
- Using the *, for example, "diabet*" retrieves "diabetes", "diabetic", "diabetics", and so on. Truncating too soon will give you inaccurate results. for example, "diab*" can retrieve words like "diabolical"
Searching for one concept at a time and only then combining the sets using Boolean Operators will allow you the greatest flexibility in searching.
- Search for one concept and it synonyms at a time.
- Combine the one concept and it synonyms using “OR”.
- Combine the major concepts using "AND”.
- Boolean Operators
- Using "AND"
- Requires that ALL terms are present in the article.
- Narrows your search (you get fewer articles than are in each set)
- Example: a search for "diabetes AND insulin therapy" will retrieve articles containing both terms
Using "OR"
- Allows EITHER term to be present in each article
- Broadens your search
- Example: a search for "anorexia OR bulimia" retrieves articles that mention either condition
Using "ADJ#"
- Looks for two terms that are adjacent to one another in the article
- "Herpes ADJ1 Simplex" will find articles with the terms next to each other
- "Herpes ADJ3 Simplex" will find the terms within three words of each other
GO TO THE DATABASE TAB FOR SUGGESTIONS ON DATABASES TO RUN YOUR SEARCH.
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