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Asia-Pacific resources: 1. Compose

This page outlines a suggested process for conducting literature searches.

1. Define your topic/problem

  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 yourscope:
    • 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 oralternateterms
      • ANAESTHESIA = ANESTHETICS
      • CHILD = PAEDIATRICS
    • Once the terms are decided, be sure to include sub-topics when searching (see below) [inMedline, this is calledexplodingthe term]

2. Creating your search terms

  1. Subjectsversuskeywords:
    • Where possible, try mapping your search term to asubject heading
      • This will help yield the maximum number of results
    • Most health-related databases utiliseMedicalSubjectHeadings (orMeSH)
      • BARIATRIC PATIENT =BARIATRICS
      • PREOPERATIVE =PREOPERATIVE PERIOD
      • ASSESSMENT =PATIENT OUTCOME ASSESSMENTorTREATMENT OUTCOME
    • Check relevant articles for the subjects and keywords used to ascertainpotential additional terms
    • Usekeywordsas 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 ofwildcards
    • Depending on the database, ? and * can be used to indicate optional characters
      • PAEDIATRICS =P?EDIATRICS

3. Building your search (once you've logged into a database)

  1. ​Build your searchincrementally (one step at a time)
    • ​BARIATRICS
    • BARIATRICSANDASSESSMENT
    • BARIATRICSANDTREATMENT OUTCOMEANDPREOPERATIVE PERIOD
    • BARIATRICSANDTREATMENT OUTCOMEANDPREOPERATIVE PERIOD​ ANDPEDIATRIC​S
  2. UsingBoolean search logicto expand/narrow your results
    • OR= expand the search results
      • PREOPERATIVE PERIODORPREOPERATIVE CARE
    • ​AND= narrow the search results
      • BARIATRICSANDPREOPERATIVE PERIOD
    • NOT= exclude certain terms
      • ​CHILDNOTADULT
    • Use brackets to prioritise the order
      • BARIATRICSAND(PREOPERATIVE PERIODORPREOPERATIVE CARE)

4. Limiting your search results

  1. ​Add your limitersincrementally (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 particulardate 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 amajor pointof the article
    • This can be very useful when using generic terms that return a large number of results
  8. Use keywords tohighlightterms in the citation (or use CTRL-F to highlight terms in a result list)

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