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Searching the Literature:
Research Methods in the
Health Professions I
HFR 8270
George Washington University
Week 2 – Part 2
Chapter 6
Searching the Literature
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Objectives
Apply strategies for using search engines and
databases for locating research literature.
Develop search strategies using Boolean logic
and Medical Subject Headings.
Describe several methods for refining or
broadening a search.
Distinguish between primary and secondary
sources of information.
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Where We Find Evidence
Scientific journals
Magazines
Government and professional websites
Grey literature
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Sources of Evidence
Primary sources are reports provided
directly by the investigator, such as journal
articles.
• Examples – research articles and systematic
reviews
Secondary sources include reviews of
studies presented by someone other than
the original author.
• Examples – review articles and textbooks
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Selected Databases and Search Engines
MEDLINE
• Pubmed
CINAHL
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
OT Search
PEDro
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Overview of the Search Process
Figure 6.1
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Example of Search Terms Based on PICO
Figure 6.2 P Population, Problem, Person
Type 2 diabetes, frozen shoulder,
age 65, female
I Intervention
Physical therapy
C Comparison
Corticosteroid injection
O Outcomes
Reduced shoulder disability,
reduced pain, increased ROM
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PubMed Search Example
Figure 6.3 The search starts by entering keywords on the PubMed homepage. This page also lists several
useful resources.
This dropdown menu allows access to other databases provided by the National Library of Medicine, including
PubMed Central (PMC), and MeSH headings.
We start the search by entering keywords or phrases into this search window.
Several advanced features can be accessed through this link, including combining and building complex
searches (see Figure 6.8).
Tutorials and FAQs are useful for new and experienced users.
Clinical Queries allows searching specifically for references on therapy (intervention), diagnosis, prognosis,
etiology, or clinical guidelines (see Figure 6.9).
MeSH terms can be accessed directly through this link.
My NCBI allows users to set up a free account, to personalize settings and save searches.
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Truncation and Wildcards
Truncation symbol to search different word
forms.
• Usually an asterisk, *
• Some databases may use $ or #
Wildcards to check spelling variations.
• Usually a question mark, ?
• E.g., mobili?ation will return mobilization and
mobilisation
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Boolean Operators
A B
Figure 6.4
adhesive physical
capsulitis therapy
adhesive physical
capsulitis therapy
mobilization
adhesive capsulitis AND physical therapy
adhesive capsulitis AND physical therapy
AND mobilization
C mobilization physical
therapy
mobilization OR physical therapy
D E
adhesive physical
adhesive physical capsulitis therapy
capsulitis therapy
mobilization
manipulation
adhesive capsulitis AND
adhesive capsulitis AND physical therapy
(physical therapy OR mobilization)
NOT manipulation
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PubMed Search Results
Figure 6.5 Results of the initial search using “adhesive capsulitis” AND (“physical therapy” OR
mobilization) as keywords. This page offers several options for the display of results.
A total of 1035 citations were returned. Only the first 20 are displayed.
The citations are sorted by “Best Match,” based on an algorithm of the frequency of use of keywords.
This dropdown menu includes other options such as “Most Recent,” which lists citations in order of
publication date, or alphabetical by author, journal or title.
The left menu bar lists several limits that can be set for the search, including type of article, full-text
options, and publication dates. The list of “Article Types” can be expanded using “Customize…” to
specify RCTs, systematic reviews or other formats. “Additional filters” include language, sex, age and
other descriptors. Clicking on these links will result in a revised display.
This dropdown menu allows you to set the number of citations viewed on the screen between 5 and
200.
The “Send to” dropdown menu allows you to save selected citations in several formats (see Figure
6.10).
Clicking on “Similar Articles” will generate a new list of citations with content similar to that article.
Those citations will be listed in order of relevance to the original article.
MeSH terms are provided for the entered keywords. Note that “bursitis” is the heading under which
“adhesive capsulitis” will be listed (see Figure 6.7).
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PubMed Abstract Display
Figure 6.6 The abstract display in PubMed, obtained by clicking on a citation link from the results page.
The title and source information is provided, including the journal title, date and pages. “Epub”
indicates that this article was originally published electronically ahead of print.
The authors names are listed and clicking on an author’s name will bring up a new list of citations by
that author. “Author Information” can be expanded to reveal contact information.
The full abstract is provided. Formats will differ among journals.
This icon tells you that this article is available in full-text. This may or may not be free. Click on the
icon to get information on availability.
Systematic reviews that have referenced this study are listed here.
Articles with similar content are listed here. Clicking on these links will bring you to the abstract for that
article.
“PMID” is the PubMed identifier. “DOI” is the digital object identifier, a unique number assigned to
academic scholarly articles. These numbers are often included in reference lists, and can be used to
locate particular articles in a search.
Clicking on this link will provide a list of MeSH terms for the search keywords (see Figure 6.7).
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Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) are
subject headings developed by the National
Library of Medicine to sort through
keywords and may be helpful in searching
PubMed.
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PubMed Advanced Search
Figure 6.8 The Advanced search page, obtained by clicking the link “Advanced” from the results or
abstract page (see Figure 6.3). This page shows the details of a search history, allowing you to
combine search components and to see the results of various keyword combinations.
The search builder allows you to enter successive terms to create a comprehensive search.
Each successive search is numbered, with the most recent at the top.
The detailed terms for each search are provided. Searches can be combined by using keywords
or using search numbers for prior searches.
The number of citations for each search is provided. By clicking on the number of items, the
results of that search will be displayed.
If filters are applied (in this case for language), they will be indicated. There were 6 references
from search #5 that were not published in English.
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PubMed Clinical Queries
Figure 6.9 Screenshot of results of a search in “Clinical Queries,” showing results for clinical trials and
systematic reviews. A “Medical Genetics” search is a regular part of this feature, but does not result in
any citations for this topic. This feature is accessed through a link on the PubMed homepage (see
Figure 6.3).
Keywords are entered in the search box. Phrases are in quotes and terms are nested.
Results are given for clinical study categories, with a dropdown menu that allows you to choose
studies based on the type of clinical question: etiology, diagnosis, therapy (intervention), prognosis,
or clinical prediction guides.
Dropdown menu for scope allows you to choose a narrow or broad focus, making the search more
selective or more comprehensive. With a broad scope, we obtained 54 citations. If we had applied
a narrow scope, the result would have only been 12 citations.
A separate category for systematic reviews is included.
The number of citations displayed can be expanded.
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Accessing Full Text
Academic libraries
Publishers
Interlibrary loan
Public libraries
Author requests
Open access journals
Free full text
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Staying Current and Organized
My NCBI
Email alerts
Social media
Citation management
• RefWorks
• EndNote
• Mendeley
• Zotero
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