Before you start searching for sources, take some time to prepare to search. Spending time preparing to search will save you time and it helps to reduce some of the frustrations.
Begin with developing your topic. As you think about possible topics, ask yourself:
Once you have a general topic in mind, as yourself
You can search for background information on your topic to understand it better. You will also want to do some preliminary searching regarding your topic to see if other people have published on this issue.
Learn more about your topic as you work to figure out your focus.
Read about your topic in a reference resource (like a textbook, encyclopedia, or a reference database/website). These sources will contain the background information you need to help you further understand issues within your topic, identify key terms, and narrow your topic.
Point-of-care tool and reference resource for physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and sports medicine professionals.
Brief, introductory articles on all subjects from the largest, most authoritative encyclopedia in the world.
Search for a book or ebook on your topic in the library's catalog.
Questions in the health sciences often follow the PICO(T) format.
PICO(T) |
Ask yourself... |
Examples |
|---|---|---|
Patient population/disease |
How would you describe your group of patients? |
age, gender, ethnicity, persons with a certain disorder, etc |
Intervention or issue of interest |
What main intervention are you considering? |
specific therapy, exposure to disease, prognostic factor A, risk behavior |
Comparison intervention or issue of interest |
What is the main alternative to compare with the intervention? |
alternative therapy, placebo, no intervention/therapy, no disease, prognostic factor B, absence of risk factor |
Outcome |
What can you hope to accomplish, measure, improve or affect? |
outcome expected from therapy, risk of disease, accuracy of diagnosis, rate of occurrence of adverse outcome |
Time |
What time frame? |
the time it takes for the intervention to achieve the outcome, the time over which populations are observed for the outcome to occur, given the certain condition |
You can use the template file linked below to put together all the PICO(T) pieces into one question.
Use your PICO to design your search strategy.
After you have developed your PICO question, you will need to break it up into keywords and phrases to use when searching.
Use each section of your PICO question to determine key concepts and keywords.
If your PICO question is "For long-distance runners, how does the use of compression socks affect muscle recovery?" you can break the question into keywords like this:
| PICO | Key concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Population | long-distance runners | runners |
| Intervention | use of compression socks | compression socks |
| Comparison | ||
| Outcome | affect muscle recovery | muscle recovery |
Then, think of synonyms or other phrases, for example,
Tip: You may also want to think about what word would be used in certain contexts. Health Science literature may use more jargon or technical terms rather than terms a patient would use. For example, a patient would use the word "cancer," but a researcher publishing about cancer would use "neoplasms."
Information comes in many different packages including books, articles, websites, etc. You will need to think about what type of resources you want to find that best fit your project.
Ask yourself...
You can learn more about the different types of resources and what they are best used for with the linked handout "Books, Journals, Magazines, Grey Literature & More"
Based on the types of sources you want, you will need to search multiple places. The Cullom-Davis Library has a large collection of books and ebooks as well as subscribes to over 110 databases. Not all of them need to be searched for your topic.
You can search the library's catalog for books on your topic or a specific ebook collection. Often you will find a chapter, not a whole book, that will be useful to your project/assignment.
In Health Sciences, you will search in CINAHL and PubMed for research articles. The Cochrane Library is also a great database to search, particularly for systematic reviews. Additional databases should be searched depending on your topic and your project/assignment.
Ebooks for nursing, allied health and medicine topics.
Concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects in the medicine and health.
Premier collection of nursing and allied health journal articles.
Evidence-based information from Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Trials and Clinical Answers.
Biomedical and health sciences articles. This version has been customized for our library so that the Get It @ Bradley link will appear.
Abstracts and links to articles from journals across multiple disciplines. Extensive coverage of many disciplines from1966-today.
Scholarly articles for a range of nursing specialties.
E-books, scholarly articles, and reference materials from health, physical sciences, social sciences, the humanities, and more.
Business articles, reports (including market reports), ebooks, and videos, 1984 - present. Replaces ABI/INFORM.
Scholarly articles and other resources for all academic subjects, from 1887 to today. Classic EBSCO interface.