MHIKNET: Creating an Effective Search Strategy

Creating a Effective Search Strategy

1. Plan your search: A literature search always begins with a well-planned research question. 

• Example of a search question:

Does giving oral supplements with vitamin D alone, or in combination with calcium, to women during pregnancy, improve maternal and neonatal outcomes?

2. Identify your key concepts:

• Using a method such as PICO can help keep you focused:

PICO – Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome

• Create a list of synonyms for each of the key concepts.

• Using a table can help keep your organized.

3. Creating the search strategy:

• The main concepts of your search can be combined in a database with the Boolean operators AND and OR.
  • Use OR to combine the synonyms
  • Use AND to connect the different key concepts.
• Parenthesis are helpful to group like terms together and keep your search strategy logical.
• Example of a search strategy:

(pregnant OR pregnancy OR prenatal) AND (“vitamin D” OR calciferol OR ergocalciferol OR viosterol OR cholecarciferol) AND (“pre-eclampsia” OR “gestational diabetes” OR “low birthweight”)