Now that you've given some thought to what you will search and where you'll search, it's time to think about how to conduct the search.
For the majority of health science comprehensive searches:
Use a "structured approach" to search comprehensively to:
In the below example, notice how a structured approach to this search makes the strategy clear and easy to understand.
1. Start with concept 1:
2. Add concept 2:
3. Combine concepts:
The NOT operator can be helpful in making decisions about your search strategy as you determine how to balance precision with sensitivity. You might use it in a number of ways, including:
This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. For information on this guide contact Erica Nekolaichuk, Faculty Liaison & Instruction Librarian at the Gerstein Science Information Centre.
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