Searching tips when searching library databases

1. Paramedicine
La Trobe University
www.latrobe.edu.au/library

2. 2
The Research Question
La Trobe University
• You cannot conduct an effective search without a well
formulated question.
• Think about the concepts within your research question.
• Identify and list the keywords and their synonyms that
identify the concepts.
• Consider the ‘level of evidence’ to be sought – the
research methodologies that will help eliminate bias.

3. 3
Levels of Evidence
La Trobe University

4. 4
Developing a search strategy: PICO
La Trobe University
1. Break the research question down into concepts
Example:
The outcome and the effect of oxygen vs no oxygen
given to a patient suffering from a cardiac arrest in
an out of hospital setting
2. Identify for each facet:
• Synonyms
• Spelling variations
• Subject headings

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PICO
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Population /
Problem
Intervention Comparison Outcome
Research
Design (if
applicable)
Cardiac
arrest
Oxygen No Oxygen Survival If applicable:
which study
type will give
the highest
level of
evidence to
answer the
question

6. 6
Useful search tips
La Trobe University
• Terminology: If you are not sure of the terminology, use related text books or
Google to gather a basic understanding of your topic.
• Spelling variations: replace letters with ? to retrieve words with variable
spelling, such as organization OR organisation
e.g. organi?ation
• Truncation: replace word endings with the truncation symbol to retrieve words
such as child, children, children's.
e.g. child*
• Phrase searching: place quotation marks around common phrases to
retrieve records with a specific phrase. For example water therapy
e.g. “cardiac arrest”

7. 7
Linking terms: BOOLEAN operators
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• AND retrieves records contacting both of two terms:
Cardiac Arrest AND oxygen
• OR retrieves records containing any of the terms (OR
retrieves more records):
Cardiac Arrest OR Myocardial Infarction

8. 8
Example of a completed PICO map
La Trobe University
Population /
Problem
Intervention Comparison Outcome
Research
Design (if
applicable)
“Cardiac
Arrest”
OR
“Myocardial
infarction”
Oxygen No oxygen Surviv*
OR
“Chain of
survival”
RCT
AND
OR

9. 9
Databases
La Trobe University
• Electronic indexes that help you identify journal articles in
your research area
• NO single database indexes every journal possible in a
subject area – only those that match their selection
criteria
• Efficient, effective and less biased searching therefore
requires multiple database searching
• Select by database name or by subject area under the
Database tab from the Library home page -
latrobe.edu.au/library

10. 10
Types of databases
La Trobe University
• Citation databases:
Entries have the citation, subject headings and often an abstract,
often they will link to full text. Example CINAHL and Medline
• Full text databases:
Entries have the citation and abstract and in most cases the full text
of an article. Examples: Health, & Medical Complete (Proquest),
Informit Health
• Pre-appraised evidence databases:
The Cochrane Library is a multi-database resources which varies in
output. For example the Cochrane Database for Systematic reviews
contains complete systematic reviews

11. 11
Systematic searching
La Trobe University
• Systematic searches are a combination of using the
terminology of the database (Subject Headings) combined
with the free text or keyword searching (alternate terms
encountered in the literature).
• While there may be some overlap, you will also find many
different articles when using both ways of searching for
the same concept.
• Comprehensive systematic searching requires both
subject heading and keyword searching.

12. 12
Systematic searching : What are subject headings &
keywords?
La Trobe University
Controlled Vocabulary (Subject Searching) Keyword Searching
A fixed list of terms that are arranged in a hierarchical
structure and show the relationships between terms.
These are referred to differently depending on the
database e.g. Medline uses MeSH (Medical Subject
Headings) terms.
Natural language words that describe your topic.
Keywords are used when searching Google.
Provides consistency in the description of the content
of the articles.
Useful for searching for a specific term or phrase when
there is not an appropriate subject heading.
Do not need to think of synonyms for your topic. Useful for searching topics that use new concepts or
terminology (subject headings take a while to be
developed)..
Less flexible to search by - need to know the exact
controlled vocabulary term.
More flexible to search by - can combine together in
many ways..
Database looks for subjects only in the subject heading
or descriptor field, where the most relevant words
appear.
Useful for searching topics that use new concepts or
terminology (subject headings take a while to be
developed).

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Database terminology
La Trobe University
• Subject Headings (Controlled vocabulary or Thesauri):
used to overcome differences in individual authors’ use of
terminology.
• Scope note: describes how the term is used in the
database, the ‘scope’ of the term; the history of the
indexing.
• Explode: To explode a term means to include narrower
terms for that subject heading.

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Decreasing or Increasing your results
La Trobe University
• Decrease results by using limits. Choose limits according
to your search criteria. For example: limit by population,
study type or date.
• Increase your results by using another keyword, or a
broader search term. Remove the least important
concept, or try another database.

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Tracking research
La Trobe University
• If you find an article that is ideal for your assignment,
check the reference list to see cited articles.
• Use Google Scholar to forward track by searching for the
article title and checking Cited by and Related articles.

16. 16
Google Scholar
scholar.google.com
La Trobe University
• Search scholarly literature for articles, theses, books,
abstracts, professional societies, online repositories,
universities and other web sites across the world of
scholarly research.
• You can access items held in the Library through Google
Scholar. See instructions

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Search results – finding the full text.
La Trobe University
• Some databases will have a Full Text finder icon or pdf
link
• If not, search the title of the journal via the Journal tab on
the library home page and follow the links to the full text
• If not held by the Library, request the article via Document
Delivery

18. Thank you
Jill Stokes
Senior Learning Advisor (Library)
Science, Health and Engineering
Curricular Services
Library | La Trobe University | Bendigo 3550
T: 03 5444 7395| E: j.stokes@latrobe.edu.au | W: www.latrobe.edu.au/library
facebook.com/latrobe