Global Health

After you have identified your concepts, built a list of related terms, and selected some potential databases to search, it is time to apply all three. We will use our example question and related terms from the earlier sections of this guide. See the guide How to Search the Literature- Advanced for more details and tips.

Remember to combine related terms with OR and separate concepts with AND.

Some databases and resources are more easily searched using keywords only. This includes web-based searches and some of the databases. For this type of searching consult the list of related terms you have developed and build some search strings using OR, AND. 

For any phrases, it is helpful to place them with in quotation marks " " to signal to the resource that this is an exact phrase.

For words with multiple endings or to include both singular and plural versions, consider adding an *.

For Example:

("first responder" OR "emergency medical technician*" OR firefighter* OR "smoke jumper*")

AND

("forest fire*" OR "wildfire*" OR "wild fire*" OR "wildland* fire*" OR "bush fire*")

AND

("mental health" OR distress OR "physical health" OR "exposure" OR wellbeing OR "well being")

AND

(Canad* OR Australia* OR outback OR "northern Ontario" OR Yukon OR "New South Wales" OR "British Columbia")

Some databases offer controlled vocabulary, also referred to as descriptors and subject headings, to assist with building your search. Controlled vocabulary are the terms, labels, applied to describe the contents of articles regardless of the words the authors themselves have used. These terms can be found in the database thesaurus (e.g MeSH, Emtree, CINAHL Headings). The default search setting for many of our biomedical databases includes searching for your term in the thesaurus first. Using controlled vocabulary contributes to both thorough and efficient searches.

It is wise to build your searches using a combination of both.

For example, when using OVID Medline, the wildfire search would be:

1. Wildfires/

2. ("forest fire*" OR "wildfire*" OR "wild fire*" OR "wildland* fire*" OR "bush fire*")

3. 1 OR 2

4. Emergency Medical Technicians/

5. Firefighters/

6. ("first responder" OR "emergency medical technician*" OR firefighter* OR "smoke jumper*")

7. 4 OR 5 OR 6

8. 3 AND 7

When working with database searching, it is helpful to document what you have done. This can be achieved through creating search accounts within the database platforms and saving your search histories, and by exporting your search history to word or pdf files. Saving your searches can save valuable time when re-running or editing your work.

Exporting search results to review either through citation management software, knowledge synthesis software, word processing, or spreadsheet formats can assist you with managing duplicate articles and large result sets.