Literature searching: 1: Compose search

1. Define your topic/problem
2. Create your search terms
3. Building your search
4. Limiting your search results

Note: All EXAMPLES below listed in green

1. Precisely define your topic:
   • Don't include too many concepts
     • PREOPERATIVE ASSESSMENT FOR CHILDREN UNDERGOING BARIATRIC PROCEDURES
2. ​​Define your potentialsearch terms:
   • Think about the individual parts that comprise the topic
     • PREOPERATIVE + ASSESSMENT + CHILD+BARIATRICS
   • Define the order of importance for the elements of the search
     • BARIATRICS
     • ASSESSMENT
     • PREOPERATIVE
     • CHILD
3. Define your scope:
   • Consider broadening or narrowing your search terms
     • PREOPERATIVE
       • Broader term =PERIOPERATIVE PERIOD
     • BARIATRICS
       • Broader term =OBESITY
       • Narrower term =BARIATRIC SURGERY
   • Consider the use of related or alternate terms
     • ANAESTHESIA = ANESTHETICS
     • CHILD = PAEDIATRICS
   • Once the terms are decided, be sure to include sub-topics when searching (see below) [in Medline, this is called exploding the term]

1. Subjects versus keywords:
   • Where possible, try mapping your search term to a subject heading
     • This will help yield the maximum number of results
   • Most health-related databases utilise Medical Subject Headings (or MeSH)
     • BARIATRIC PATIENT = BARIATRICS
     • PREOPERATIVE = PREOPERATIVE PERIOD
     • ASSESSMENT = PATIENT OUTCOME ASSESSMENT or TREATMENT OUTCOME
   • Check relevant articles for the subjects and keywords used to ascertain potential additional terms
   • Use keywords as a way include terms where no comparable subject exists
2. Spelling:
   • Many databases utilise American spellings
     • ANAESTHESIA = ANESTHESIA
     • PAEDIATRICS = PEDIATRICS
   • Some databases allow the use of wildcards
   • Depending on the database, ? and * can be used to indicate optional characters
     • PAEDIATRICS = P?EDIATRICS

1. ​Build your search incrementally (one step-at-a-time)
   • ​BARIATRICS
   • BARIATRICS AND ASSESSMENT
   • BARIATRICS AND TREATMENT OUTCOME AND PREOPERATIVE PERIOD
   • BARIATRICS AND TREATMENT OUTCOMEAND PREOPERATIVE PERIOD​ AND PEDIATRIC​S
2. Using Boolean search logic to expand/narrow your results
   • OR= expand the search results
     • PREOPERATIVE PERIOD OR PREOPERATIVE CARE
   • ​AND= narrow the search results
     • BARIATRICS AND PREOPERATIVE PERIOD
   • NOT= exclude certain terms
     • ​CHILD NOT ADULT
   • Use brackets to prioritise the order
     • BARIATRICS AND (PREOPERATIVE PERIOD OR PREOPERATIVE CARE)

1. ​Add your limiters incrementally (one step-at-a-time)
2. Use additional subject terms to limit your search
   • Start broad, then narrow your search
   • Be careful not to use terms that are too narrow, or that do not return many results in their own right
   • Broad term =HUMANS [this would eliminate articles about animals]
   • Narrower term =CHILD
3. Limit your results to a particular date range
   • Publication Year = 2000 to current
4. Limit your search by language
   • Language = English
5. Limit your search to a type of article
   • Publication Type = Review articles
6. Limit your search by age range
   • Age Group = All Child
   • This can be used as an alternative to adding a limiting subject heading
7. Focus your terms
   • Return results where the term is considered a major point of the article
   • This can be very useful when using generic terms that return a large number of results
8. Use keywords to highlight terms in the citation (or use CTRL-F to highlight terms in a result list)