BSN Year One & Two Nursing

After you formulate your problem and develop and ask your research question, you need to develop a search strategy to acquire information.

• Brainstorm keywords related to your topic. 

• Identify whether you need primary, secondary, or tertiary sources. 

• Search existing literature to find current and relevant articles and resources to use as evidence and to answer your research question

  • Use library sources for full access to research literature!

• Find some relevant studies and look at the information about those sources, and the references. Identify the Subject Headings the database uses to describe the studies AND the keywords in the abstracts. Add these terms to your PICO terms to expand or narrow your search.

Primary Sources - The first place researchers publish their research findings. Typically in the form of journal or research articles that follow a typical research article structure. The hierarchy of evidence (the evidence pyramid) is based on the type of study and and quality of evidence. Examples: Randomized Controlled Trials, Cohort Studies, Case-Control Studies, Case Reports, Qualitative Studies

Secondary Sources - Summarizes primary research. Collates and evaluates research to answer a clinical question. Often this may involve a clinician reviewing research to answer a clinical question. Examples: Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analyses, Evidence-Based Guidelines, Some Clinical Database entries

Tertiary Sources - Health information sources that collate research literature from multiple sources. Evidence may be lacking currency compared to primary sources. Examples: Most guidelines and society statements, Most Clinical Database entries, Clinical Textbooks, Narrative Reviews

Good overview of primary & secondary sources from UViC Library

Sample topic:  Is patient education effective in reducing COPD among smokers?

Identify the concepts in your topic:

1. patient education
2. COPD
3. smokers

Use a dictionary, thesaurus, textbook, database or CINAHL Headings to find alternative search terms:

1. patient education
2. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
3. smoking cessation

Too many sources... 

• You need to narrow your search
• Use database LIMITERS (language, peer reviewed/scholarly, date, resource/material type)
• Try the ADVANCED search option
  • Subject, author, or other selections from drop-down
  • Use database headings or the thesaurus
  • Join terms or phrases with AND, OR, NOT
• Add additional concepts to your search  and avoid general, less specific search terms
• Choose subject headings as your search type
• Search for significant words in the TITLE of the article
• Select specific article types
• Use quotes around words to search as a phrase (ie. "global warming")

Too few sources....

• You need to expand your search
• Look for misspellings or typos in your search
• Expand a search term by using synonyms (ie. geriatric OR elderly OR senior)
• Decrease your number of search terms/concepts to broaden your search (ie. Canada AND "seniors care" AND "critical care" --> Canada AND "seniors care")
• Try broader or more general search terms (ie. sympathetic --> empathy)
• Try truncating search terms to find alternate endings (ie. Canad* = Canadian, Canada, Canadians, Canadiana, etc.)
• Use the database's thesaurus or index to find the exact subject heading
• Remove unnecessary limiters
• Avoid sentences, long phrases, idioms, and abbreviations
• Try other databases
• Turn OFF the "available in OC collection" limiter in OCtopus

Tips!

Truncate words to increase your search results

• Truncation is used to find variations of a word ending. Truncating a word will usually EXPAND your search
• Example: Remove the ending of the word children, replace with * (or ? in library catalogue), child*. Searches for child, children, childish, child's, etc. OR elder* will search for elder OR elderly OR elders. 

Proximity searching decreases your search results

• Proximity operators allow you to locate one word within a certain distance of another. 
• Example: Canada w3 economy. Searches for results in which the word Canada appears within 3 words of economy