Step 3: Keywords and creating your search strings
Keywords are the words you type into search engines when you are looking for relevant sources.
Your keywords will be the main concepts from your research question.
This section will teach you how to identify your main concepts and turn them into a collection of keywords that give your search strategy flexibility and scope.
Database video tutorials - Learning Videos - LibGuides at Wintec
Start a list of keywords from your research question (Remember your keyword list will grow when you start searching, this is just a beginning):
Research Question: What exercise routines have shown the greatest improvement to symptoms of women with CFS?
| Keywords | Synonyms | Medical Terms (Controlled Vocabulary from different databases) |
| Chronic Fatigue Syndrome |
|
MESH (PubMed) - CINAHL Ultimate -
|
| Women |
|
MESH (PubMed) - CINAHL Ultimate - |
| Exercise routines |
|
MESH (PubMed) - CINAHL Ultimate -
|
| improvement |
|
MESH (PubMed) - CINAHL Ultimate -
|
| symptoms |
|
MESH (PubMed) - CINAHL Ultimate -
|
Or
|
Concept 1 |
Child |
[Title / abstract] Children OR child* OR pediatric OR paediatric OR infant OR toddler OR preschool [Controlled vocab: Main Heading / MeSH] Child OR preschool |
|
Concept 2: |
Preoperative |
[Title / abstract] Preoperative OR perioperative OR peri-operative OR pre-surgery OR "preoperative period" OR "preoperative care" [Controlled vocab: Main Heading / MeSH] "Preoperative period" OR "preoperative care"
|
|
Concept 3: |
Music |
[Title / abstract] Music OR "music therapy" OR "music intervention" [Controlled vocab: Main Heading / MeSH] Music OR "music therapy"
|
|
Concept 4 |
Anxiety |
[Title / abstract] Anxiety OR distress OR "reduced anxiety" OR calm* OR relax* OR "anxiety reduction" [Controlled vocab: Main Heading / MeSH]
|
The next step of your search strategy is to apply Boolean operators (AND OR NOT) and field tags (where in a document you want to search for your terms, title, abstract, keywords, main headings etc.).
Pubmed uses MeSH subject headings. These are a controlled group of subject headings. Click here to search for the National Library of Medicine MeSH medical subject headings