BI232 Rodrigues: Web and database search strategies
Search strategies
Successful searching begins with good search terms. You may need to try different words and conduct multiple searches.
- Health topic: What synonyms are used to describe the condition you are researching? For example, pregnancy; reproductive health; maternal health
- Health disparities: An excellent article on health disparities might not use the words 'health' or 'disparities'. Other search terms to try: race, racism, ethnicity, demographics, outcomes, inequality, discrimination, etc.
As you research, you may come across additional search terms that are useful for learning about your topic. Keep a list of those words, and try searching different words in combination.
Image from https://www.lifewire.com/searching-your-site-3466200
Web searching
You can find excellent resources online about health care disparities. The best resources may be government websites and reputable healthcare organizations. You may also find good reports from respected news sources.
Some other sources that you find online may be very low quality, even if their website looks professional. Here are some questions to ask of any information source:
Who created the source?
- Is the author identified AND if they are, are they someone you find credible?
- If the author is not identified, is there a group or institution responsible for the source? Do you find that group credible?
- Have you done whatever additional research you need to do to decide if the author is credible or useful?
What is the author’s (or institution’s or agency’s) purpose in creating this source?
- Are they trying to persuade you to do or think something specific?
- Are they selling something?
- Does their purpose or agenda affect the quality of their evidence? Did it affect how they presented it?
- Do they articulate their agenda themselves?
- Does what they say about their agenda match what others say?
The video below provides additional tips for evaluating web sources.
Evaluating Sources on the Web (4:30 minutes)
Database searching
Database searching requires careful use of search terms. With databases, the more words you use, the fewer results you will get, so limit your searches to the most essential terms. For example, here are the results from different search terms in the database Academic Search Premier:
- Search terms health outcome disparities in pregnancies between women of different races: 4 articles
- Search terms maternal mortality race: 2,181 articles
See the video below for more tips on selecting search terms. Here are some recommended databases to search.
- EBSCOhost This link opens in a new windowSearch from a wide range of research databases for magazine and journal articles. Updated daily. View the EBSCOhost handout
Mobile URL: EBSCOhost Mobile - Health and Medicine (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new windowHRCA contains full text from nursing and allied health journals, plus a wide variety of personal health information sources.