Identify the main concepts of your research question
Identify the main concepts of your research/PICO question:
| Example PICO/Research Question | PICO Components | Search Terms to use in Database |
|---|---|---|
|
Patient/Problem: 6 year old, childhood apraxia of speech Intervention: motor programming approach Comparison: melodic intonation therapy Outcome: improvement |
childhood apraxia, motor programming |
*Recommendations:
- Do separate searches for the problem and intervention, and the problem and comparison.
- Only search for 2 to 3 concepts at a time.
Use Search Commands to improve search results
Add Search Commands to the Search String to get better search results.
Most databases recognize the following commands:
| Search Command | Result |
|---|---|
| Boolean Command AND | apraxia AND childhood AND motor programming brings back articles that mention all three concepts. |
| Boolean Command OR | childhood OR adolescents brings back articles that mention either concept. |
| Boolean Command NOT | Not adults will exclude articles that mention the concept. |
| Phrase Searching | "motor programming" brings back articles that mention the phrase. |
| Truncation |
Placing an asterisk at the root of a word returns articles including the root with any ending. For example: child* returns child, children, childhood |
Example Search in a Database
Put the search terms and search commands together to form a search string:
Example search string in the database CINAHL Ultimate:
This search string will return articles that mention the following terms:
apraxia, child, and motor programming
apraxia, adolescent, and motor programming
apraxia, pediatric, and motor programming
Ways to find additional articles
Some ways to find additional articles:
Change your search terms
- Figure out the terms that the database uses for your concepts by seeing the subject headings or MeSH terms found in the article records of relevant results.
- If a database has a thesaurus (Subject Headings, MeSH terms), you can browse it for subject headings, see the scope note or definition of a subject heading, and see related terms that you might use.
Check for Citations
- Consult the bibliography of relevant articles to find additional sources.
- Check for articles that have cited a relevant article using Google Scholar or the database Web of Science.
Search for a systematic review on a treatment/intervention/comparison to find research studies.
- Systematic Reviews are articles that review multiple research studies on a specific treatment.
- Databases that allow you to limit your search results to systematic reviews include:
- CINAHL Ultimate
- MEDLINE Complete
- PubMed
- Cochrane
- JBI