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OT Capstone Project

Search Term Development

When searching the literature, you want to make sure you are searching for all the possible variations and different words that could be used to describe your topic.  For example, using both the terms stroke and cerebrovascular accident.

  • Use the concepts you identified in your PICO question to help brainstorm keywords for your search.

  • Determine which concepts are primary concepts (i.e. which concepts are the most important).  Depending on your topic, you may not need to search keywords for every concept.

  • For each primary concept, think of as many different ways to describe the concept as you can.

PICO Keyword Chart

Keywords

Keywords are any word or acronym you might use to describe a concept or idea.  They can vary widely depending on who is discussing the topic.

Some common variations to think about can include:

  • Spelling, such as American vs British English: pediatric OR paediatric
  • Abbreviations: autism spectrum disorder OR asd
  • Technical/medical vs common terms: stroke OR cerebrovascular accident
  • Synonyms or similar concepts: senior citizens OR older people OR geriatric
  • Drug brand names vs generics: claritin OR loratadine

When searching you want to make sure you are being very broad and inclusive in your search terms so that you don't miss any relevant literature that might refer to your topic with a different word.

Subject Headings

Each database will have its own special set of terms or subject headings that the indexers use to describe articles.  When developing your search strategy, it is always a good idea to take a look at the subject headings for that database to ensure you are using the official term, as well as to get ideas for synonyms or alternative search terms to use.  Below are descriptions of some of the commonly used subject headings.

PubMed/Medline: MeSH

  • Used by the National Library of Medicine to index MEDLINE/PubMed, MeSH stands for Medical Subject Headings.  
  • Organized in a tree structure that moves from more general to more specific. 
  • Each term will have "Entry Terms", which are synonyms that PubMed will automatically map to the MeSH term when searched. 
  • To search the MeSH database, select MeSH from the drop down menu next to the search box, or select MeSH Database under More Resources on the PubMed homepage.

CINAHL: CINAHL Headings

  • Used within the CINAHL database. 
  • Often the same as the MeSH term used in PubMed, but they can be different. 
  • To access the CINAHL Headings, click the link at the top of the database screen.  If you are searching more than one Ebsco database, you can hover your mouse over Subjects, then select CINAHL Headings from the list.

Other Databases

  • Each database you search will likely have its own subject headings or thesaurus specific to its subject area. 
  • Be sure to check what the preferred terms are when you switch databases and adjust your search strategy to match.