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PubMed is the primary database for health related research. All health researchers and practitioners should be knowledgeable in how to search it effectively.
ALWAYS link to PubMed through the UW Library Research Databases. After connecting with your WatIAm, you will have to all the full text articles available at the Waterloo Library.
Find the best evidence by building a comprehensive search strategy using multiple keywords. This systematic approach to searching helps to ensure an efficient and comprehensive scan of the literature.
Sample research question:
Is balance training an effective intervention for reducing falls in the older population?
Sample search strategy:
(balance training OR balance exercises) AND (older adults OR elderly OR aging) AND (fall prevention OR accidental falls)
OR: groups related words or synonyms together
AND: separates main concepts of the research topic
Some research databases have special symbols that allow you to create a search strategy with more precision
child*: using truncation (*) searches different word endings such as child, childhood, children
"older adult*": phrase searching (" ") searches for the keywords as a phrase, in the exact order you wrote them.
A review article is a useful starting point when researching a new topic. The authors have already synthesized the research in the field and summarized it into a readable format. Use the PubMed filters to limit to Review, Systematic Review or Meta analysis