Need Help?
Search Strategies
The first step is to determine keywords that sum up the main concepts of your topic. Keywords are typically nouns or noun phrases. If you phrase your topic as a research question or thesis, you can often pull keywords from the topic sentence.
Example topic: How are molecular diagnostics used in the detection of malignant tumors?
Keywords: molecular diagnostics, malignant tumors
Sometimes the keywords from your original topic sentence will not produce the types of results you want. When that happens, try to think of related keywords. These can be other words that have similar meanings, words that are broader (good for when you have too few results), or words that are more specific (good for when you have too many results).
Example related keywords:
Similar: molecular diagnosis, neoplasms
Broader: medical technology, hereditary diseases
Narrower: molecular diagnostic techniques, lymphoma
Truncation (shortening your keyword) makes the database look at other possible forms of a word for which you are searching. Use truncation to find plurals and variations on the endings of a word. To truncate, use the asterisk symbol: *. You can enter this symbol by pressing Shift and 8 on the keyboard at the same time or by pressing the asterisk symbol on the number pad.
Examples:
- You want to find the following terms:
neoplasm, neoplasms
Use neoplasm* - You want to find the following terms:
chemistry, chemical, chemicals
Use chemi* - You want to find the following terms:
diagnosis, diagnoses, diagnostics
Use diagnos*
To find an exact phrase (i.e., words in a row in an exact order), enclose the phrase in quotation marks.
Examples:
- "molecular diagnostics"
- "medical technology"
- "hereditary diseases"
Combine keywords by putting the word AND between them. This requires that both keywords be present in the database's search results. Entries that include keywords connected by AND are referred to as search statements.
Example Search Statements using AND:
- "molecular diagnosis" AND "malignant tumors"
- neoplasms AND "molecular diagnostic techniques"
- neoplasm* AND "molecular diagnosis"
Note: If you use the Advanced Search feature of a database, AND is the default connector between the entry boxes.
Controlled Vocabulary and Subjects
Sometimes there are ways that scientific or medical personnel phrase a term that are different than common usage. Looking up the controlled vocabulary used within a database can help you retrieve better search results.
When in a database, look for a link that says Thesaurus, MeSH, or Subject Terms to look up this vocabulary (typically at the top of the screen). You may also use the MeSH Browser to look up MeSH terms, which are standard medical subject headings.
For example, in MEDLINE, looking up diagnostic molecular pathologies in the MeSH area shows that the correct term to use in this database is Pathology, Molecular:
Evidence Based Medicine Searches
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) encompasses specific types of research that help determine what medical interventions and practices are most effective. Rather than relying on anecdotal evidence, EBM uses more rigorous study designs to draw scientific conclusions.
Many of the library databases include methods of limiting your search to EBM. These instructions are listed here.
Health and Medicine
Type evidence-based medicine in the first search box and choose Subject from the pull-down menu next to the box:
MEDLINE
EBM Reviews provide summaries of EBM articles on a topic. Under the Limit your results area, in the left-hand column, select EBM Reviews:
To access individual EBM articles, type evidence-based medicine in the first search box and choose MM Exact Major Subject Heading from the pull-down menu next to the box:
