This page provides research tips specific to health topics, as well as basic search strategies for every subject area. In addition, I have provided access to video tutorials addressing using our main search system and links to other specific database tutorials.
First, consider whether you need overview or background information or articles from health-related trade or scholarly publications.
If you need overview or background information, use the Books and eBooks tab in this guide.
If you need trade magazines or journal articles, use the search tips on this page and then search using our main library search tool from the library home page or the individual databases listed on the Research Databases tab.
Which of the following searches will be more effective?
A) Are school vouchers good or bad for public schools?
or
B) "school vouchers" AND "public schools" AND issues
The answer is typically B - keywords and phrases.
In most cases, you do not want to type in a long sentence or sentence fragment. Taking your search topic and translating it into the most important keywords that describe your topic is the most effective search technique. The cases in which you would want to use a sentence as your search phrase is when you are gathering background information, you are having trouble effectively searching with keywords, or it is likely authors will use such similarly worded sentences in their articles.
Other tips regarding keywords:
To search for two or more words in an exact order, place quotation marks around the phrase. The computer will only return documents containing that specific phrase rather than documents containing each word found individually anywhere in the document.
EX: "obsessive compulsive disorder"
By using three simple words, you can improve your search results. Boolean searching connects words and phrases with three Boolean Operators, AND, OR, and NOT. Depending on the operator, you can either narrow or expand your search results. Use the Advanced Search tab found in the databases (EBSCO defaults to the this screen).
AND will make your search smaller. If you are getting too many items in your search results, try linking another term to your topic using AND. When you add AND between two or more search terms, your search results will include all of your search terms.
EX: obesity AND children
OR will make your search bigger. If you are receiving too few results, try connecting a synonym to your topic using OR. When you add OR between your search terms, your search results will include either of your search terms.
EX: teenagers OR adolescents
NOT will exclude a word from your search results. If you are getting too many results on an unrelated topic, try eliminating a word with the operator NOT. Your search results will only include the term before NOT.
EX: cowboys NOT football
Library databases have predefined fields that you can search within. Limiting your search to specific fields can make your search more precise. For example, if you are looking for a particular article, type in the article title and choose Title in the drop down field menu. Use the Advanced Search option to search within a field (default search screen in EBSCO). Some common fields are:
EX: EBSCO
Limiters help refine and narrow your search. Using Limiters can give you more precise results. The location of these limiters vary by database, but are commonly found on the left side of the page. Some may be applied before your search or after. Common limiters are:
Truncation allows you to search for a root word with all of its different endings by placing a symbol at the end of the word. Symbols vary by database so check the help section on each database. Common symbols are:
* (asterisk)
! (exclamation mark)
? (question mark)
EX: femini*
The computer will search for feminist, feminism, feminists, feminine, feminize
The video below will teach you the basics of using the MCC Library's search engine (which is located on the library's homepage). It incudes information on:
The video below will teach you to use the cite, share, and save button's on the item-preview screen.
The video below will teach you to find more information about a search result by accessing its record page.
Formulate a focused clinical situation or question using PICO to develop your research strategy and identify your database search terms.
P stands for Patient, Population, or Problem (age, gender, ethnicity, certain disease or disorder, or setting)
I stands for Intervention or Exposure (treatment, medication, exposure to disease, education, diagnostic tests, or risk behavior)
C stands for Comparison or Control (another intervention, placebo, no intervention, no disease, current practice, or absence of risk factor)
O stands for the Outcome or Outcomes (outcome expected, risk of disease, accuracy of diagnosis, fall rate, length of stay, patient satisfaction, or financial outcome)
optional T for Time (timeframe for the desired outcome or observed outcome)
Clinical Question: In abdominal surgery, what is the rate of abdominal scar adhesions due to laparoscopic surgery in comparison to open surgery?
P = abdominal surgery patients
I = laparoscopic surgery
C = open surgery
O = incidence of scar tissue
T = not applicable
Search Terms: Your search terms may be exactly what is in your PICO framework or similar terms. You may not always do one search that includes the I and C, but you may just need to look for those comparative factors within the literature.
"abdominal surgery" OR "gastric surgery" OR hysterectomy OR "gall bladder surgery"
"scar tissue" OR "abdominal adhesions"
incidence OR prevalence
laparoscopic OR "open surgery"
Test this search using a link searching our main library search system. The terms use were as follows: "abdominal surgery" AND ("scar tissue" OR "abdominal adhesions") AND (incidence OR prevalence) AND (laparoscopic OR "open surgery").
