Research/patient care question:
In children with diagnosed asthma [population/patients], is oral fish oil supplements [Intervention] more effective in reducing risk and severity of asthma [outcome] compared with Placebo supplement?
When you have developed a research question, think about the key concepts or significant keywords and list the terms in a table. Then collect and add keywords or synonyms related to each key concept.
To construct the search strategy, you need to combine the terms correctly with Boolean operators: OR, AND.
We use OR to combine terms relevant to each concept ( terms listed in each column) and we use AND to combine the terms across the columns.
When constructing your search strategy, you can combine your search terms with Boolean operators (AND, OR) to either broaden (increase the results) or narrow (reduce your results) your search .
Search strategy:
(Children OR preschoolers OR toddlers) AND (asthma OR asthmatic OR acute brochities OR allergic disorders) AND (fish oil OR cod-liver oil OR eicosapentaenoic acid OR docosahexaenoic acid OR omega-3)
For further information on Boolean search operators see the CIAP Combining terms with Boolean operators page.
Databases command
use parentheses ( ) to separate the concepts and related terms
use quotation mark " " to find phrases as one word
use Truncation * or ? to find a word stem with different variations
Where to search:
Databases are valuable resources for healthcare professionals, researchers, and students seeking to access and retrieve scholarly literature in their respective fields. They enable users to stay updated with the latest research, conduct literature reviews, and gather evidence for clinical practice or research purposes.
Databases tutorials
CIAP Module on Searching Citation Databases
Medline: Mapping in Advanced Search mode
See CIAP User Guides and Videos for a list of online tutorials or video recordings for different sources and databases.
Search filters
Search filters are pre-tested strategies that identify the higher quality evidence from the vast amounts of literature indexed in the major medical databases. Search filters help to refine the results according to study designs (e.g experimental studies, RCTs or qualitative studies) or the target of interest (e.g gender studies).
Remember experienced and expert clinical Library staff are available to assist you with your literature searches. You can request a search be done for you or work with us to design an effective search strategy.
The Keeping Up To Date LibGuide links to information on saving searches and setting up email alerts in most of our key databases and research resources.
PUBMED: Save searches and setup email alerts : A brief tutorial on how to get email alerts for articles on a topic using PubMed.