On this page of the research guide, you will learn:
Once you've engaged with all the content on this page, you should:
You do have to start somewhere, of course. A good way to think about the process:
Step 1: Begin with your PICOT question
Start by building an initial search, based on your PICOT question and your concept table, which by now includes keywords and controlled vocabulary for whatever databases you're using. You'll include some, but not all, elements of your PICOT question in your search. In many cases, you'll leave the Outcome out of the search and focus instead on Population and Intervention.
Step 2: Analyze your search results
Consider questions like: how relevant are these results? what might I be missing? what keywords or controlled vocabulary show up in references I think are right on target? is my search too broad? too narrow? am I using too many elements of my PICOT? too few?
Step 3: Revise your search
Add or remove keywords and controlled vocabulary based on what you've learned so far.
Step 4: Keep iterating
Repeat steps 2 and 3 till you feel like your strategy is as thorough and systematic as you can make it.
Step 5: Execute your best exploratory search
Remember: keep your concept table updated and keep track of your searches (the entire search strategy) as you go!
It's fairly long, but it is essential to understanding the process. Don't forget you can download the transcript to use in conjunction with the video or to refresh your memory of the steps as you construct your own search. Further down this page, you'll find a reference box that provides text examples of important elements covered in this video, such as search tags, truncation, and phrase searching.
Now that you've watched the video, you're ready to begin your exploratory searches in PubMed.
PubMed is a database, which means each reference is a record made up of many different fields. Some examples of fields include title, abstract, and MeSH. Search tags allow you to tell PubMed where in the record to search. As you construct your search, you'll typically be looking in a few specific fields:
[mesh]
Searches only the MeSH field.
An important note: In general, using a search tag like [mesh] both requires PubMed to search in that specific field and prevents it from processing your words through Automatic Term Mapping (ATM). In rare cases, when the word or phrase you use appears in more than one MeSH term (such as drinking and alcohol drinking), PubMed will map to any MeSH term containing your word or phrase. In this example, if you search drinking [mesh] without quotation marks, PubMed will search for drinking [mesh] OR alcohol drinking [mesh]. Searching "drinking" [mesh] prevents the unintended mapping.
Because of this possibility, it's good practice to use "quotation marks" around words or phrases when using the [mesh] search tag.
[mesh:noexp]
Searches only in MeSH, and explicitly excludes the narrower terms underneath your MeSH term in the hierarchy (turns off "exploding").
[tiab]
Searches in title, abstract, and keywords (as well as collection title and other abstract).
[tiab] is the best choice, in most cases, for searching keywords from your concept table. You should also use it to search your MeSH terms as keywords, just in case!
[tw]
This searches in lots of different fields, including title, abstract, MeSH, MeSH subheadings, publication types, substance names, various author name fields, and more.
Because [tw] includes the MeSH field, it has a tendency to duplicate your MeSH search. It may also be too sensitive, returning lots of irrelevant results ("noise"). I recommend using [tiab] instead, in most circumstances. There may be cases in which [tw] is appropriate, but we can work that out together.
In databases, searching for any ending of a word is called truncation. Frequently you can use * (asterisk) to truncate a word, but the symbol can vary across different databases. In some cases, you can use a wildcard to find alternative spellings that fall inside a word, rather than at the end.
Essential things to know about truncation in PubMed:
Phrase searching works differently in PubMed than in most databases, so see the next tab in this box to learn more about it.
There are three different ways to do phrase searching for keywords in PubMed:
Option 1 (this is what I recommend)
Use a [search tag]: cardiovascular exercise [tiab]
PubMed first checks to see if the phrase appears in its phrase index. If it does, PubMed executes the search as requested. If it doesn't, PubMed ignores the search tag and tries to match the words x AND y using ATM.
Option 2
Put "double quotes" around your phrase: "cardiovascular exercise"
PubMed first checks to see if the phrase appears in its phrase index. If it does, PubMed executes the search as requested. If it doesn't, PubMed tries to match the words x AND y using ATM.
Option 3
Use a hyphen: cardiovascular-exercise
PubMed first checks the phrase index. If it isn't there, PubMed returns no results for your phrase.
Proximity searching in PubMed can be used in very specific cases.
The syntax for proximity searching is "search terms" [field:~N] where N is the number of words between terms.
Proximity searching can be tricky in PubMed. I recommend the resources below for further details and explanations.
You're exporting only a few relevant references at this time, so first select them by using the check boxes to the left of each desired reference.
Then tap the Send to button above your first result. Select Citation manager.
In the Selection drop-down menu, choose Selection, then tap the Create file button. This will download an NBIB file of your checked references. Quick tip: after your meeting with me, when you execute your final PubMed search, you won't select individual references. Instead you'll choose All results in the Selection drop-down.
Now go to RefWorks. I recommend you create a folder for your exploratory searching references. Open the My Folders section of the left column by tapping the down arrow.
To create a new folder, tap the plus sign next to Add folder.
Create a folder for your selected results. Quick tip: while you're here, create one for PubMed and one for Cochrane. This will ensure that after your meeting with me, when you execute your final searches in PubMed and the Cochrane Library, you'll be able to keep track of where your references came from.
To import the NBIB file, tap the Add button in the navigation bar and choose Import references.
Drag and drop the NBIB file, or tap Select a file from your computer and choose the file from your Downloads folder.
RefWorks will select a format type automatically. Tap the Import button.
Choose the desired folder and tap the Import button.
You're exporting only a few relevant references at this time, so first select them by using the check boxes to the left of each desired reference.
Then tap the Send to button above your first result. Select Citation manager.
In the Selection drop-down menu, choose Selection, then tap the Create file button. This will download an NBIB file of your checked references. Quick tip: after your meeting with me, when you execute your final PubMed search, you won't select individual references. Instead you'll choose All results in the Selection drop-down.
Now go to Zotero. Under the File menu (PC) or Zotero menu (Mac), choose Import.
Follow the prompts in the pop-up box to confirm you want to import a file, then choose the file from your Downloads folder. While it isn't listed explicitly, Zotero supports NBIB files.
Confirm that you'd like to put the imported items into a new collection, to ensure you can locate them easily in your library. When the pop-up box confirms the import is complete, tap Finish.
You'll see your collection of references in your library. I recommend you rename the collection to reflect that it contains your exploratory searching references. Right-click on the collection name and rename it. Quick tip: after your meeting with me, when you execute your final searches in PubMed and the Cochrane Library, you'll again rename your imported collections so you can keep track of where your references came from.
Most databases allow you to download your search history. To do so in PubMed, go to the Advanced Search page and tap the Download button at the top right of the History and Search Details box.
This downloads your search history as a csv file. When you open it in Excel, you can expand the cell sizes and wrap the text to see your search strings more clearly. Because Excel has a character limit for each cell, you may need to open your csv file in a text editor like Notepad to see the full text of very long search strings.
Downloading your searches allows you to easily see and document how you searched as well as to re-execute searches by copying and pasting search strings.
Have you:
Then you're ready to move on to the next page, Using Search Hedges in PubMed!
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