Intervention and Treatment

Use these tips when you search in CCC Library databases. Your search results will be more focused and relevant to your topic!

1. Use quotation marks around phrases and search terms to search for the words in the exact order you would like, instead of separately.
   
2. Use different search boxes for each different idea that makes up your overall topic.
   

Need help with too many or too few results? Call, email, chat with, or stop by and see a librarian!

The date a resource (article, book, video, etc.) was created is important in medical fields research. Outdated information can negatively impact your understanding of a topic and be harmful to patients.

In general, do not use resources that are over 5 years old. There are three primary exceptions:

• You are writing a paper about the history of medicine, and need historical information included.
• You are making an argument that relies on highlighting the history of a medical topic.
• There is no new research on your topic. In which case, be up front about the age of your resources.

Library tools and Google Scholar make it easy to limit your results by date. Find the date filter. It will vary depending on what tool you are in, but it may include a date slider, a field to type a date into, a calendar to select a date, or a drop down where you can select "within the past 5 years."

We all use it - now let's learn to use it better! Improving your Googling skills will save you time and make it easier to identify better sources of information. Tips and tricks are explained below.

1. Use quotation marks around your search terms to search for the words in the exact order you would like, instead of separately.

1. Use intitle: to retrieve webpages with your keywords in the title of the webpage

1. Use site:. to retrieve webpages from URLs in the domain (.gov, .edu, .org) you specify.  

1. Use - (a hyphen or minus sign) in front of words to exclude them from your search results.

1. Use OR in between words to have either or both of the words included in your search results. OR must be capitalized. This is a good way to search for synonyms.

In the above example, Google will find results that include (election AND fraud) and (voter AND fraud).

1. Use filetype: to retrieve specific types of files (instead of html webpages). Works for finding most file types.

1. Use several strategies at once for very specific results.