databases
- pubmed* this link opens in a new window
contains more than 35 million citations and abstracts for biomedical and life sciences literature.
pubmed links to full-text when they are available.
- mesh databasespubmed- medical subject headings (mesh) databases.
- cinahl ultimate this link opens in a new window
provides full text for more than 1,300 nursing and allied health journals. (upgrade from cinahl complete)
- sciencedirect this link opens in a new window
contains over 25% of the world's science, technology and medicine full text and bibliographic information.
grey literature
literature/reports published outside of traditional commercial publishing. this can include government reports, conference proceedings, graduate dissertations, unpublished clinical trials, etc.
~chapter 4.3.5 of cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions
- think about who is interested in your topic and where they might talk. for example, if government agencies = look for government reports, and think about professional associations à their conferences = conference papers.
example of search strategy
- here is an example of a compressive search strategytopic: focus on the oral health of children and young people in the foster care system.
foster care and oral health search strategy.
boolean searching commands
| and |
retrieve sources with both words. |
| or |
the database will retrieve sources with either word. |
| not |
excludes a keyword from your search. |
| ( ) | combines or groups. this is called “nesting.” (pediatric or child or adolescent) and obesity |
| " " | connect phrases. “head injury” |
| * |
truncate to allow for multiple variations on the end of a word stem. intubat* = intubation, intubating, intubate |