Public Health 102 (Young): Search Strategies

" "

To search for specific phrases, enclose them in quotation marks. The database will search for those words together in that order.

Examples:

“primary care”

“major depression”

TRUNCATION

Truncate a word in order to search for different forms of the same word. Many databases use the asterisk * as the truncation symbol.

Examples:

Add the truncation symbol to the word screen* to search for screen, screens, screening, etc.

You do have to be careful with truncation. If you add the truncation symbol to the word minor*, the database will search for minor, minors, minority, minorities, etc.

AND, OR

Join together search terms in a logical manner.

AND - narrows searches, used to join dissimilar terms
OR - broadens searches, used to join similar terms

Examples:

#1
"major depression" AND "primary care"

#2
screen* OR feedback

#3
(screen* OR feedback)

AND
“major depression”

AND
“primary care”