Note: database search interfaces change relatively frequently. Check the provider help files if a search doesn’t perform as you expect.
The document below compares some of the tools available to you when searching:
- truncation - including all different forms of a word (nurse, nurses, nursing)
- automatic stemming - when truncation is carried out automatically by the database
- wildcards - to include different spellings of words such as paediatric/pediatric
- proximity searching - including results where two search terms are close to each other
- phrase searching - including phrases as well as single word terms in your searches
- Boolean - which Boolean logic terms are supported by the database (e.g. AND/OR/NOT)
- Parenthesis - including brackets () in your search string to group search terms together
- Subject searching - using a controlled vocabulary (Subject Headings) can be used to identify content on a specific topic
The following search interface providers are compared:
- OVID (Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, MIDIRS)
- Ebsco (CINAHL)
- Proquest (Public Health Database, ASSIA, Social Science Abstracts)
- Web of Science (now accessed via free subscription for Scottish residents from the National Library of Scotland, includes Medline, WoS Core Collection, Journal Citation Reports)
- Google Scholar
- PubMed
- Epistemonikos (more information about Epistemonikos here)
- DoPHER/TroPHI (more information about DoPHER & TroPHI here)
- Cochrane Library
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