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Your search strategy is a very important stage in your knowledge synthesis. As your strategy (methodology) is the method to collect your data (articles and other resources), it is important to be comprehensive in searching. Your search strategy should be reproducible, systematic, and transparent.
Steps in Developing Your Search Strategy
Figure 4.1 A guide to the planning, conduct, management and reporting of the searching phase of systematic reviews and systematic maps (Livoreil et al., 2017).
Resources
Keyword searching is how you typically search web search engines (like Google). Think of important words or phrases and type them in to get results.
Library databases are made up of individual records which correspond to information about a particular journal article, book or book chapter. These records contain a lot of information that is divided up into fields containing specific pieces of bibliographic information. Common fields include:
In a keyword search, the term(s) entered into the search box are looked for in all fields in an individual record.
Search Tip |
How to Use |
Find More Information |
| Combining search words with AND, OR, & NOT (Boolean operators) |
Combine words with
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How to Search guide on Boolean Operators |
| Add "quotation marks" to search phrases |
Put words in quotation marks (sometimes brackets or curly brackets) to get results that have the exact phrase. For example:
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How to Search guide on phrase searching |
| Use truncation (*) for multiple word endings |
Add an asterisk to the end of a word to get results that include the root word as well as any possible endings. For example if you search with Child* results will include the words:
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How to Search guide on truncation |
| Use proximity searching to search for nearby words |
Many databases allow you to specify that the words you are searching are within a certain proximity of each other. Proximity operators vary by database, but some common ones include W# (with, within) and N# (near). W# specifies that words appear in the order you type them. Substitute the # with a number of words that may appear in between. If no number if given, then it specifies an exact phrase.
N# can specify that the words may appear in any order. Substitute the # with a number of words that may appear in between.
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How to Search guide on proximity searching |
| Search subject headings for controlled vocabulary |
Subject headings are controlled vocabulary and terminology to identify resources on that topic. To find subject headings:
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How to Search guide on subject headings |
| Use brackets to nest your search concepts |
If you need to mix your boolean operators in one search string you need to use brackets to tell the database how to group your terms together. Just like in math the operations inside the brackets are conducted as a step in the over all search. Group synonymous terms using parentheses with OR in between those terms.
The database will search this as a group first before combining it with the next term or group of terms Combine the groups of synonymous terms using AND.
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How to Search guide on brackets or nested searching |
| Search fields for searching different parts of resources |
Records in databases are comprised of fields containing specific pieces of bibliographic information. Limiting your search to specific fields in a database can yield more precise results. Look for the Advanced Search page to search specific fields. Common fields include: title, authors, source, publication type, language, subject headings, abstract, publication date, and DOI. |
How to Search guide on field searching |
| Use search filters to include or exclude search concepts |
Search filters (a.k.a. hedges) can be used to search for specific aspects of your topic (e.g. geographic region, population).
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How to Search guide on search filters and hedges. |
It is recommended you create a test-set of articles, created by asking the research team and other experts. With your test-set, you can assess the performance of your search strategy.
If significant time has passed from conducting your search to the writing phase, you will want to update (rerun) your searches to ensure any additional resources are found.
Content on this page has been reused with permission from the U of M health sciences' guide How to Search in the Health Sciences.