Database Searching

How to read a database search strategy

Author: Pauline Goodlad,
Acting Site Librarian, John Spalding Library,
Wrexham Maelor Hospital

One of the tips that Librarians often give out is to look at published search strategies for inspiration for developing your own search strategy. It might be that a Librarian has done a search for you and has sent you a copy of their strategy for your information. But do you know what you are looking at? This guide is designed to help you know what to look out for.

Firstly, it is important that the search strategy matches the research/clinical question. The following examples are based on the question “Does listening to music preoperatively reduce anxiety?” (Walker and McNaughton, 2018). This question can be broken down into its PICO elements.

Population = preoperative patient.

Intervention = listening to music.

Comparison = not applicable.

Outcome = reduction in anxiety.

In these strategies, look to see which lines correspond to which part of the question. Have a look to see how they have been combined with Boolean operators. Synonyms and related terms should be combined with OR. Combining concepts together should be done with AND.

Have a look to see whether the search terms are subject headings or keyword (free text) searches. The notation for this can vary across different databases.

Where you see keyword searches, have a look to see whether commands for truncation, wild cards or proximity have been used.

If you would like a refresher on some of these aspects of literature searching, then check out these bite sized videos on Boolean searching, Database searching tips, and Subject Headings.

Remember, if in doubt, get in touch with a Librarian! You can find the details of your local librarian here: https://www.nhswls.org/contactyourlibrary

Reference

Walker, J. C., & McNaughton, A. (2018). Does listening to music preoperatively reduce anxiety? An evidence-based practice process for novice researchers. British journal of nursing, 27(21), 1250-1254.

MEDLINE search strategy example

Ovid MEDLINE(R) ALL <1946 to April 02, 2024>

1 Preoperative Care/ 65585

2 Preoperative Period/ 9445

3 (preoperat* or pre operat* or presurg* or pre surg*).mp. 460301

4 1 or 2 or 3 460301

5 Music Therapy/ or Music/ 20637

6 (music or singing or song* or sound* or tune*).mp. 298519

7 5 or 6 298519

8 exp *Anxiety/ 52716

9 Anxiety Disorders/pc, su [Prevention & Control, Surgery] 577

10 (anxiety or anxious or worry or concern or fear or fearful or stress or nervous).ti,ab,kf. 1916979

11 8 or 9 or 10 1921995

12 4 and 7 and 11 300

13 limit 12 to (english language and yr="2000 -Current") 248

Things to note in the MEDLINE search strategy:

The platform (Ovid) and database (MEDLINE) are listed.
The numbers at the end of each line represent hits in the database.
The first 3 lines correspond to the population group. The terms have been combined using OR in line 4.
Lines 1 and 2 are subject headings (MeSH), indicated by the symbol “/” after the term.
Line 3 is a keyword search across the mp (multipurpose) fields. This is a default setting on the Ovid platform for keyword searches.
The “*” symbol after the keywords is a truncation command (it will bring back results with multiple endings, e.g. preoperative or preoperational).
Lines 5 and 6 are the search terms corresponding to the intervention. They have been combined in line 7.
Lines 8, 9 and 10 are the search terms corresponding to the outcome. They have been combined in line 11.
Line 8 is a subject heading search. The “exp” notation means that this term was exploded (to include narrower terms). The “*” notation means that this term was focused (to only include major subject headings).
Line 9 is also a subject heading, but only includes the subheadings “Prevention & Control” and “Surgery” for the subject heading.
Line 10 is a keyword search. These keywords have just been searched within the title (ti), abstract (ab) and the author Keyword (kf) fields.
Line 12 are the three elements/concepts combined using AND.
Line 13 shows that the search was limited by language and date.

CINAHL search strategy example

Interface - EBSCOhost Research Databases

Search Screen - Advanced Search

Database - CINAHL Plus with Full Text

S1 (MH "Preoperative Period") OR (MH "Preoperative Care") 27,186

S2 TI ( "preoperat*" or "pre operat*" or "presurg*" or "pre surg*" ) OR AB ( "preoperat*" or "pre operat*" or "presurg*" or "pre surg*" ) 86,731

S3 S1 OR S2 98,669

S4 (MH "Music Therapy") OR (MH "Music") OR (MH "Singing") 19,675

S5 TI ( "music" or "singing" or "song*" or "sound*" or "tune*" ) OR AB ( "music" or "singing" or "song*" or "sound*" or "tune*" ) 48,367

S6 S4 OR S5 56,929

S7 (MM "Anxiety+") 29,151

S8 (MH "Anxiety Disorders/PC/SU") 351

S9 TI ( "anxiety" or "anxious" or "worry" or "concern" or "fear" or "fearful" or "stress" or "nervous" ) OR AB ( "anxiety" or "anxious" or "worry" or "concern" or "fear" or "fearful" or "stress" or "nervous" ) 386,968

S10 S7 OR S8 OR S9 390,915

S11 S3 AND S6 AND S10 179

S12 S3 AND S6 AND S10 Limiters - Publication Date: 20000101-20241231 157

Narrow by Language: - english 157

Things to note in the CINAHL search strategy:

The platform (EBSCOhost) and database (CINAHL Plus with Full Text) are listed.
The numbers at the end of each line represent hits in the database.
The first two lines correspond to the population group. The terms have been combined using OR in line S3.
Line S1 includes subject heading searches. MH stands for exact subject heading in the CINAHL database.
Line S2 includes keyword searches. TI and AB are the title and abstract fields in CINAHL. Note that quotation marks are required around phrases in CINAHL, but a “*” is also used for truncation searches. Truncation searches bring back results with multiple endings, e.g. preoperative or preoperational.
Lines S4 and S5 are the search terms corresponding to the intervention. They have been combined in line S6.
Lines S7, S8 and S9 are the search terms corresponding to the outcome. They have been combined in line S10.
Line S7 is a subject heading search. MM stands for exact major subject heading in the CINAHL database (the equivalent of using focus in MEDLINE). The “+” after the term, means that it was exploded (to include narrower terms).
Line S8 is a subject heading search, but only includes the subheadings “Prevention & Control” and “Surgery” for the subject heading.
Line S11 are the three elements/concepts combined using AND.
Line S12 shows that the search was limited by language and date.