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Quick Tips and Shortcuts for Database Searching (5:19)
Articles that cite your article can be relevant to your research. Discover how a known idea or innovation has been confirmed, applied, improved, extended, or corrected. Databases that include citation searching:
Source: How to Write a Good Scientific Paper (2018). C.A. Mack. Link below.
Filters (also called hedges) are searches that have been created for you on a specific topic. These can save valuable time. Use them verbatim or use them as inspiration for your systematic search and adjust accordingly.
Change Keywords - Choose Broader/Narrower Synonyms
fish - broad general term
trout - specific family of fish
fundulus - scientific name for a fish (mummichog)
2. Phrases words searched side by side in a specific order
"endocrine disruption"
"hazardous wastes"
3. Truncation * accounts for different word endings
disrupt* = disrupting disruption, disrupt, disrupted
"hazardous waste* " - truncate within a phrase
4. Connect keywords with operators
(fish* OR trout OR fundulus) AND "endocrine disrupt*"
Enter the above search strategy or statement into the search box of a research database.
Screening search results can be a very time consuming process and requires a high attention to detail. Once you have completed ALL of your searches, you will be ready to:
Step 1: Import references into your reference manager
Step 2: Remove Duplicates
Step 3: Initial Screening
Step 4: Second Screening
(Adapted from J. Stapleton, University of Waterloo Library, Sept. 2019)