Plan ahead
A search strategy is a plan that will help you look for the information you need.
- Identify the key concepts and main ideas. These will become your keywords, or search terms.
- Brainstorm alternate terms for these concepts, or some related terms.
- Determine where you'll search. Different databases index different journals and articles. Some focus on narrow subjects, and others cover a broader range. Read database descriptions, and choose a few to search in.
- Use database search techniques to broaden or narrow your search:
- Use Boolean operators to broaden or narrow your search.
- AND – narrows your search results by combining multiple terms
- OR – broadens your search results by adding synonyms or related terms
- NOT – narrows your search results by excluding results with certain specified words
- Use wildcard and truncation symbols to account for alternate spellings or word endings. Symbols used depend on the database you're searching, but typically:
- ? for a wildcard, to account for alternate spellings (wom?n = woman, women)
- * for truncation, to account for alternate word endings (therap* = therapy, therapies, therapist, therapeutic, etc.)
- Use official subject terms (i.e., MeSH in MEDLINE, CINAHL Headings in CINAHL), thesauri and other indexes. These are the terms a database uses to categorize and classify articles.
- Make use of database filters for date, article type, etc.
- Mine bibliographies (works cited or reference lists) to find other relevant articles, etc.
- Keep track of what you find! Save PDFs and permanent or stable URLs.
Search Tips & Strategies
In this Guide, you'll find: