EBVM Search Guide: Getting Started

Think of keywords as something the author said, in exactly the way they said it. Computers accept what you type in a literal fashion. When you search, consider:

• how a word is spelled, i.e. American vs. British spelling;

• single, plural or possessive word endings, ex: Alzheimer / Alzheimers / Alzheimer's;

• word ending variations, ex: ethic / ethics / ethical / ethicality;

• word order, ex: bird song / song bird;

• alternate words, ex: turtle / terrapin.

Improve your search strategy by using Boolean search operators ("and", "or", "not"). They allow you to be more specific in how you combine search terms.

AND	Use AND to focus search and combine different aspects of your topic. Example: hematopoiesis and simulation
OR	Use OR to expand your search and find synonyms/related terms. Example:  refinement or alternative
NOT	Use NOT to exclude a word or phrase from your search Example: dogs not mice

Phrase search  -  Use quotation marks (" ")   to search for a particular phrase.

Example: "tissue culture"

Truncation  -  Use an asterisk (*) or question mark (?) to find variations of a word. Put an asterisk following the root of the word to find all variations of that word, including singular and plural.

Example: monitor* (finds: monitor, monitors, monitored, monitoring, etc.)

Grouping or Nesting Keywords  -  Use parentheses ( ) as a way to group all your search terms together.

Example: ("surgical stripping" or "surgical ligation") and (anesthe? or anasthe? or anaesthe?) and method?

The search process needs to be documented in enough detail throughout the process to ensure that it can be reported correctly in the review, to the extent that all the searches of all the databases are reproducible.

• databases searched
• date search was run and years covered by search
• language or publication restrictions

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, version 5.1.0 (2011). Section 6.6