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Planning your research
Here are the basic steps of conducting a search. Please follow this easy flowchart as a guide when conducting a search in the medical literature.
To learn more about conducting a search, please book a one-on-one Information Skills Training session or join a group session. Book an one-on-one session. Learn more about what skills you can acquire in an Information Skills Training session.
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BASIC STEPS OF CONDUCTING A SEARCH
Step 1: Construct a searchable question or sentence(s) that you require the answer to. These are fundamental to the quality of information retrieved and it is important that they clearly address your project/research focus.
Step 2: Identify keywords or search terms to use. Include synonyms, alternate spelling, and abbreviations.
Step 3: Break topic down into concepts
Step 4: Rank concepts in order of importance
Step 5: From these concepts determine which can be used in your search
Step 6: Link keywords together using the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT
Step 7: Choose the appropriate resource or database to search from the Clinicians Health Channel
on the Library website.
E.g. Medline, PubMed, OVID Nursing Solution or CINAHL (Cumulative index for Nursing &
Allied Health Literature), Cochrane, etc.
OR
Search the Clinicians Health Channel Resources plus other e-journals & resources subscribed
to by the Library, through the Electronic Resources Portal on the library website.
NOTE: Databases generally search for terms in the title and abstract of the articles and so the results are dependant on the words used by the author of the journal article or publication.
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