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NUR 1050

Introduction to Professional Nursing

Brainstorming Keywords

Before searching for articles, you will need to choose your topic, identify ideas or concepts related to your topic, and brainstorm keywords.

What are the major ideas that you need information about?

For example: if I am researching Diabetes...

  • Type I Diabetes OR Type II Diabetes
  • Symptoms
  • Treatment
  • Comorbidities
What are some similar or related terms for each concept?

For each major idea, try to come up with one or more keywords including:

  • Synonyms (different word, same meaning)
  • Narrower terms (more specific)
  • Broader terms (less specific)
  • Everyday language (words the average person would use to describe something)
  • Formal or academic language (words that experts in a subject/discipline would use to describe something)

Tips for Database Searching

Phrases as Keywords

Add "quotation marks" around phrases. This tells the database (or search engine such as Google) to treat the phrase as one term (rather than searching for each word individually).

Advanced Search

Using the "Advanced Search" option allows you to put each keyword in its own search box, which makes it easier to change out keywords for synonyms, narrower or broader terms, etc. It also gives options for limiting your search results by date, source type, and others.

AND, OR, NOT

Use database search tools AND, OR, and NOT (as drop downs in Advanced Search or between keywords in the search bar):

  • AND = will only show results that include BOTH terms

  • OR = will show results if they have at least one of the terms

  • NOT = will exclude results that use that term

Subject Terms

Subject terms (also called "subjects" or "controlled vocabulary") are the database's "official" keywords assigned to topics. When searching with subjects, your results will most likely be more precise and relevant. You can find subject terms in a few places:

  • Database record for an article - these are often hyperlinked
  • Thesaurus / Subject Terms - databases have a searchable list of all subject terms (often available from the Advanced Search page or in the menu bar at the top)

Limits

Limits can be added using Advanced Search or from the search results page. Databases usually include options to limit by:

  • Full Text (only shows sources you can access immediately)
  • Peer Review
  • Publication Date
  • Source Type (such as Scholarly or Academic Journals, Newspapers, Magazines, Books, Dissertations, or Media)
  • Subjects

Finding Full Text

Hitting a paywall? Don't buy articles!

If you find an article online but can’t access the full text, you can check to the E-Journal Finder to see if it is available through the library databases, search in Google Scholar, or request a copy of the article through Interlibrary Loan.