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Health Business : Literature searching

Starting your search

Planning your search before starting to look for information is an essential part of the process as:

  • it will save you time
  • your search will be more structured
  • your results will be more relevant

Suggested workflow

 Identify the key words and phrases in your question or sentence. 

Think of alternative terms and spellings for your key words. Consider the following: 

  • synonyms - different words with the same or similar meaning eg older adults / elderly
  • alternative words and spellings used in different countries especially America eg orthopaedics / orthopedics
  • Acronyms or abbreviations eg BMI, BCA
  • variation in word endings / plurals - eg falls / falling

Decide on the scope of your topic. You may want to limit your search to ensure your results are relevant to your topic or to avoid retrieving too many results.  Different databases have different options for limiting your search, but the most common ones are language, date published and age group. 

 

Combining your search terms

The next step is to combine your search terms.

There are 3 connectors (known as Boolean operators) that can be used to combine your terms - AND, OR, NOT

Use AND to find references containing all of your terms when you are combining different concepts. This will narrow or focus your search, for example:

fish AND chips

will find references containing both the word fish AND the word chips

Use OR to find either of your terms when you are combining similar concepts such as alternative terms and synonyms and alternative spellings. This will broaden your search and find more references, for example:

fish OR chips

will find references containing the word fish OR references containing the word chips.

Use NOT if you want to exclude an unwanted term from your search. This will narrow or focus your search, for example:

fish NOT chips

will find references containing the word fish but NOT the word chips.

Hint: NOT should be used with caution to avoid excluding potentially relevant references.

Tips for searching

You can make your search more effective and save yourself time by using truncation symbols and wildcards to find different spellings and word endings.

Hint - not all databases use the same truncation and wildcard symbols or ways of proximity searching, so it is important to check the help screens before you start searching.  (Please see the Database search tips below for further help).

Truncating your term will look for variations in word endings, for example:

  • child* will also find child's, children, childrens, childish, childlike, childhood
  • fall* will also find falls, falling

Proximity enables you to specify that 2 words should be near to each other or a certain distance from each other, for example:

  • in 'Find It', lung N3 cancer will find the word lung within 3 words of the word cancer, so will find lung cancer as well as cancer of the lung.
  • Fall* N2 risk will find the word fall/falls/falling within 2 words of the word risk, so will find falls risk or risk of falling.
  • in the Cochrane Library, lung NEAR/3 cancer or fall* NEAR/2 risk has the same function.

Wildcards allow you to search for spelling variations, for example:

  • In 'Find It', ? is used to replace a single character, so wom?n will find woman or women
  • # is used to replace one or more characters, so p#ediatric will find pediatric as well as paediatric

Exact phrase use quotation marks to search for the exact words next to each other in the order entered, for example:

  • "older adults"
  • "fear of falling"

Search tips for the different databases

Refining your search

You may find that you need to amend your search depending on the number and quality of the references you retrieve the first time around.

Skim-read the titles and abstracts of the articles your initial search has retrieved to see what authors are saying about your topic.  Are there any terms you haven't thought of?

Too many results

You may need to narrow your search.  You can do this by:

  • Adding limits, for example:
    • limiting by date - when was the most relevant information on your topic published?  After a certain date?
    • limiting to references published in English
    • limiting by type of material such as peer-reviewed to ensure you are retrieving quality results
  • Using exact phrase searching to increase relevance for example:
    • enclosing "fear of falling" in quotes will retrieve results containing that exact phrase only

Too few results

You may need to broaden your search.  You can do this by:

  • removing any limits
  • using truncation if you have not already done so to ensure you capture any plurals or alternative spellings, for example:
    • searching for fall* to find fall or falls or falling
    • (click on the Search Tips tab for more hints)
  • including any additional terms that you can think of or terms that your initial search has highlighted.  In our example search, "postural control" is an example of a possible additional term that might be relevant.

Evaluating search results

The CRAAP test is a useful tool when evaluating the quality and reliability of information sources. 

CRAAP stands for 

C - Currency

R - Relevance

A - Authority

A - Accuracy

P - Purpose

Check the timeliness of the information. Ask yourself:

  • When was the information published or last updated?
  • Is the information current or out-of-date for your topic?

Determine the importance of the information for your needs. Consider:

  • Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • Is the information at an appropriate level?

Assess the source of the information. Look into:

  • Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
  • What are the author's credentials or organisational affiliations?
  • Is the author qualified to write on the topic?

Evaluate the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content. Ask:

  • Where does the information come from?
  • Is the information supported by evidence?
  • Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
  • Can you verify any of the information in another source?

P - Purpose

Understand the reason the information exists. Reflect on:

  • What is the purpose of the information? (to inform, teach, sell, entertain, persuade)
  • Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
  • Is the information fact, opinion, or propaganda?
  • Are there any biases?

CRAAP Test, nice short video from Wintec Library

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