Skip to Main Content
The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Ojibwe-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More

How to search in the Health Sciences

To view this video in full screen:

  1. play the video
  2. click on the "cog" icon
  3. select "enter full screen"
  4. to exit full screen hit the escape (ESC) key

Search/Concept Maps make for better searching

  • A search/concept map is a good way to organize your search
  • A map consists of a series of columns
  • Each column is used for the individual concepts identified in your search question
  • List terms and phrases that reflect that concept in the column
  • Be careful of having too many columns, search maps with more than 3 columns usually yield too few results ​
Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3

terms and phrases that 

reflect concept 1

 

terms and phrases that 

reflect concept 2

terms and phrases that 

reflect concept 3

Develop a Search Map

  • A search map is a great tool to help you build a search
  • It helps you organize your search as well as how to use Boolean Operators correctly
  • Within a column, the terms and phrases that reflect your concept, you use OR
  • When you combine different columns you use AND

Example: What is the risk of mortality due to cell phone use in distracted teen drivers?

mortal*

OR

fatal*

OR

death

 

 

AND

"cell phone"

OR

"cell phones"

OR

"cellular phone"

OR

"cellular phones"

OR

"mobile phones"

OR 

"mobile phone"

OR 

smartphone*

OR

cellphone*

 

 

AND

 

"distracted driver"

OR

"distracted drivers"

OR

"driving while distracted"

OR

"inattentive driving"

 The asterisk at the end of some words is a wildcard which is used to find alternate endings, see Truncation for more information. 

Create your search strategy for an article database

Steps

  1. Search each group of synonymous concepts separately (works best for article databases)
  2. Using the search history or advanced search features, AND the search sets from Step 1
  3. Review the results

Example:

search1 = mortal* OR fatal* OR death

search2 = "cell phone" OR "cell phones" OR "cellular phone" OR "cellular phones" OR "mobile phones" OR "mobile phone" OR smartphone* OR cellphone*

search3 = "distracted driver" OR "distracted drivers" OR "driving while distracted" OR "inattentive driving"

search4 = search1 AND search2 AND search3 <------ review the results from this search

Using brackets (or parentheses) the search would look like this:

​(mortal* OR fatal* OR death) AND ("cell phone" OR "cell phones" OR "cellular phone" OR "cellular phones" OR "mobile phones" OR "mobile phone" OR smartphone* OR cellphone*) AND ("distracted driver" OR "distracted drivers" OR "driving while distracted" OR "inattentive driving")