Nursing

PubMed has a medical thesaurus called MeSH - Medical Subject Headings. You can use this thesaurus to find medical terms, definitions, and drug names (but not articles). MeSH is a great resource if you are unsure of the best keywords to use in a search (in any database or search engine).

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 Outdated information can negatively impact your understanding of a topic and be harmful to patients.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."

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!

1. Follow the link to PubMed (above).
2. Select Advanced (located under the basic search box).
3. Enter your search term(s) in the box (e.g., chronic stress)
4. Select Show Index
5. Scroll through the entries until you find one that describes your topic best. Select it.
6. Select Add
7. Repeat as many times as necessary for each essential topic idea.
8. Select Search

Boss level pro tip: If you identified official MeSH terms, you can search with them here. Change the "Add terms to the query box" dropdown menu to "MeSH Major Topic" or "MeSH Terms" and fire away.

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.