Tip #4: Think and Plan
Think like an author
Use this as a brainstorming exercise -- Question: If an article had the perfect title for your project, what would it be?
- What terms are so important that the author would have put them in the title?
- Now you have some very relevant keywords to use when searching.
- If you are still "browsing" tell the database one of the words or a phrase should be in the title.
Do this in PubMed: Do a title field search by adding [title] after your keyword or phrase.
Plan which database will be the best one to use
The databases you might use include:
- PubMed: it covers menicine, health care, public health, nursing
- CINAHL: it covers nursing and allied health (PT, OT, nutrition, etc.)
- PsycINFO: it covers psychiatry, psychology, and the psychological aspects of health and medicine
- Web of Science: it covers social sciences, physical sciences, and medical sciences
- Google Scholar: it covers multiple disciplines (but has very limited filters to help narrow results)
