Nursing

Many library resources including UC Library Search, PubMed, CINAHL Complete etc. all use a common search 'language'. This language is built on how the words in you search relate to one another, and how you can express that relationship.

Boolean operators

Boolean operators are a way to use boolean logic--how search tools understand the connection between keywords.

AND - returns only results that contain both words. Ex. College AND Medicine

OR - returns resutls containing either keyword A or B. Ex. College OR university OR higher education

NOT - returns results including keyword A but excluding keyword B Ex. health NOT physical

Search punctuation

Use these punctuation tools in databases to help narrow or expand your searches

Combine synonyms of keywords with boolean operators using parentheses Ex. (health OR medicine) AND (college OR university OR higher education)

Use an asterisk (*) to capture variations of word endings. Ex. vaccin* will find the words vaccine, vaccination, vaccinating, etc.

Search for phrases inside of quotation marks to get the exact wording. Ex. "young adult"

If you are brand new to a topic, you may need to do some presearching, also known as preliminary, exploratory, novice, or naive searching. Presearching helps build necessary context and background information to understand a topic before searching for articles in databases.

How to presearch

Presearching will look different for every researcher, depending on your style. Here are a couple tips on how to get the most out of your presearch:

• Try searching keywords in your topic in different ways and with different combinations. You can also add the word "review" with you search to find literature reviews or systematic reviews
• Do you notice specific people, organizations, interventions or frameworks that keep coming up? Make a note, as those may be necessary to dig deeper into later on.
• Document: keep a document/spreadsheet/piece of paper to write down relevant keywords and subtopics as you read.

Where to Presearch

The PICO Framework is a way to structure your research question around key elements. It stands for Population, Intervention, Comparision, and Outcome. Sometimes, the added element of Time or Methodology will be included, making PICOT or PICOM. The PICO framework is often used in Evidence Based Medicine.

The elements of PICO

P - Patient, problem, or population

How would I describe the patient population I am interested in studying? How can I summarize the specific problem I am addressing? Example: “In patients with heart failure from dilated cardiomyopathy who are in sinus rhythm …”

I - Intervention (a cause, prognostic factor, treatment, etc.)

Which main intervention are you considering? Example: "… would adding anticoagulation with warfarin to standard heart failure therapy …”

C - Comparison (if necessary)

What is the main alternative to compare with the intervention? Often, the comparison for therapy questions will be standard care. Example: '… when compared with standard therapy alone …”

O - Outcome

What do you hope to accomplish with the intervention? Example: “… lead to lower mortality or morbidity from thromboembolism. Is this enough to be worth the increased risk of bleeding?”

PICO for non-clinical questions

PICO questions can be formulated for other research questions that may not be clinical in nature by adjusting the framework to match your needs. For example, P as a general problem or issue, I as the approach or solution that is being considered, C as the current state of the situation or past approaches, and O as the intended or desired outcome, effect, or change from your approach.