planning a search strategy · planning a search strategy pico, concept boxes and boolean operators...
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Planning a Search Strategy PICO, Concept Boxes and
Boolean Operators
Presented by Carla Hagstrom and Sandra Kendall September 2015
Online Searching at a Glance
• Useful terminology: o Pearl Searching: find a good article aka pearl
and look at the references o Boolean operators: most databases allow
boolean operators to narrow or broaden a search (AND, OR, NOT)
o Truncation: most databases use symbols such as * for truncation, e.g., dent* will retrieve dental, dentistry, dentist, etc.
BOOLEAN
SEARCHING
Using AND, OR, and NOT
AND
bisphosphonates AND osteonecrosis
OR
osteonecrosis OR death of bone OR bone death OR bone necrosis
osteonecrosis NOT femur head necrosis
NOT
Truncation
Using * (asterisk) and ? (question mark)
cat* cat
cats http://www.vetprofessionals.com/catprofessional/
http://ochumanesociety.com/dogs---cats-for-adoption/available-pets/cats-and-kittens.htm http://www.swordsandarmor.com/mall/miniature-Catapult-Siege-Weapon.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-cow.htm#slideshow
catapult
cattle
gr?y cat
gr?y cat
http://blog.sureflap.com/tag/animal-shelters/ http://dnakluski.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/canadian-flag.gif
http://goodamericanpost.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/american-flag1.jpg
grey cat gray cat
British and North American spellings vary. When entering textwords in search engines for international databases such as Cochrane or Medline, it is necessary to allow for the different spellings, or else some citations may be missed. Use $ or : to get all possible endings (e.g. comput:.mp. for computer, computers, computing, computed, etc.) Use # to replace exactly one character (wom#n.mp. for woman or women) Use ? to replace 0 or 1 character (labo?r.mp. for labor or labour)
Examples U.S. British In OVID, enter as:
anemia/anaemia etiology/aetiology gynecology/gynaecology hemoglobin/haemoglobin
-e-
-ae-
an?emia "etiology or aetiology" gyn?ecology "hemoglobin or haemoglobin"
esophagus/oesophagus fetus/foetus diarrhea/diarrhoea
-e-
-oe-
"esophagus or oesophagus" "fetus or foetus" diarrh?ea
tumor/tumour -o- -ou- tumo?r
organize/organise -z- -s- organi#e
counseling/counselling counseled/counselled
-l-
-ll-
counse$ling for specific ending counsel
sulfur/sulphur -f- -ph- sul#?ur
fiber/fibre -er- -re- fib:
Steps to finding articles • Identify the main concepts or keywords • Determine the best resources
• Plan the search
• Document the search and cite
• Evaluate what you find
Example topic
Is the Ponseti treatment effective for older children with neglected clubfoot?
Identify the main concepts
• The easiest way to make your question searchable is to break it up into concepts
• For each concept, think of as many
keywords/synonyms as you can • A very popular method to use is PICO
Identify the main concepts
• PICO Method
P – Population I – Intervention C – Comparison (Optional) O – Outcome
Identify the main concepts
Original Question PICO Searchable question
Is the Ponseti treatment effective for older children with neglected clubfoot?
P = children with neglected clubfoot I = Ponseti therapy C= O = effectiveness of Ponseti therapy
Determine the best resources
There are hundreds of article databases available. Which one will you use?
Suggestions for rehabilitation sciences: 1. CINAHL 2. Scopus 3. MEDLINE (PubMed)
Plan the search • Now you have your searchable questions and
keywords. Where do you start? • Each database has its own indexing system. Many
have their own thesaurus or list of subject headings. If the database you are using has a thesaurus, match your keywords to the thesaurus for a more efficient search.
P I C OPatient/Population
and/or Problem Intervention Comparison/Control
(if applicable)Outcomes (or Effects)
club foot Ponseti therapy effectivenessclubfoot Ponseti treatment outcome
talipes equinovarus non-surgical therapy pie torcido non-surgical treatment
clubfoot Orthopedic Fixation Devices
Alternate Words (Synonyms)
CINAHL
Plan the search
CINAHL
SCOPUS
PubMed
Thank you!