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Nursing

Research assistance for nursing students.

Basic Search Tips

Unlike Google, library databases can't understand an entire sentence. So you'll need to break your topic down into the most important ideas - the KEYWORDS.

The specifics of your topic will matter when selecting sources, but for searching you only need the most essential components. Use the essential components of your research question or statement as your keywords. 

Example Topic: Is mirror therapy effective for stroke patients with gait disorders?

Keywords: mirror therapy, stroke, gait

Most words have synonyms that mean the same, or very similar, things. For each keyword in your topic, try to come up with at least one synonym. Not all keywords will have synonyms, but many do!
 

Example

Keyword: heart attack    Synonym: myocardial infarction

Keep an Eye Out

Sometimes scholars use terms that you might not be familiar with, or which might mean something very specific within the discipline. While searching, look for unfamiliar terms or words that show up a lot. Try searching for those and see if you find more relevant sources.

Once you have your have chosen the keywords and possible synonyms you are going to use to search with, you can use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) to build effective search statements. This will help you make sure that you are asking for exactly what you want and getting the best results from your search efforts.

AND is used to combine two or more concepts. Let's say you want to investigate the relationship between use of cell phones and traffic accidents. There are lots of articles on cell phones and lots of articles about traffic accidents.

But when you combine the two concepts with AND – cell phones AND traffic accidents – you narrow or limit your search to only those articles that discuss both. AND narrows the search. Use AND when your search retrieves too many records and you need to limit your search.

AND.png

 

OR is used to combine synonyms or words that are acceptable substitutes for each other. For example, in the search above, I could ask for "traffic accidents" OR "automobile accidents." Either term is equally acceptable to me. When you use OR, you are telling the computer that you will accept either (or both) terms in every document that is retrieved. OR expands your search and you will retrieve more records.

OR.png  

 

NOT is generally used to weed out results that are not relevant. If your search returns a lot of records that are unrelated to your search need, you can refine the search using NOT to eliminate the records you don't want. For example, if you are searching for information on the python (a snake), and you keep getting information on "Monty Python," the British comedy, you could state your search as "python NOT Monty." 

To summarize:

OPERATOR

FUNCTION

RESULTS

AND

use AND to combine two or more concepts 

narrows search; fewer results 

OR

use OR to include synonyms

expands search; more results

NOT

use NOT to exclude unwanted terms

narrows search; fewer results

Most library databases have search tools built in. Try some of these:

  • Subject: Think of subjects as official hashtags. Use them to find sources about that subject.
  • Date Range: Limit your search to sources published between specific years.
  • Peer Reviewed: Limit your search to scholarly journal articles.
  • Full Text: Make sure all of the results are available to read in full.

Look on the left and right of your search results, or for an "advanced search" page to find these tools - and more!