Occupational Therapy

Keywords: Overview

Some form of a keyword search is the way most of us look for scholarly articles in database. It is a great approach! Make sure you are familiar with these librarian strategies to get the most out of your searches.

Figuring out the best keywords for your research topic/question is a process. You will start with one or a few words. Then you will adjust them as you start finding sources that describe the topic using other words.You can shift, adapt, and expand your search. Your words bridge between known topics and the unknowns of your research question. Sometimes one specific word will be enough. Sometimes you will need several different words to describe a concept AND you will need to connect that concept to another concept.

Boolean Connectors

Boolean Connector	Purpose
	AND Connects different concepts (keywords). Narrows down the number of results.
	OR Connects synonyms. Expands the number of results.
	NOT Excludes a concept. Use with extreme caution (even librarians don't use this one much).

Connect Keywords Using Boolean: Examples

OR: Connects Similar Concepts 

It expands the number of results on the topic.

AND: Connects Different Concepts

It narrows down the number of results.

NOT: Excludes a Concept 

Use with extreme caution.

Make the Database Work More

  Truncation

...uses the asterisk (*) to end a word at its core, allowing you to retrieve many more documents containing variations of the search term.  Example: educat* will find educate, educates, education, educators, educating and more.

Phrase Searching

...is when you put quotations marks around two or more words, so that the database looks for those words in that exact order. Examples: "higher education," "public health" and "pharmaceutical industry."

Controlled Vocabulary

...uses the database's own terms to describe what each article is about. Searching using controlled vocabularies is a great way to get at everything on a topic in a database.

Once you know you have a good article, there are a lot of useful parts to it - far beyond the content.

Check for useful tools in the database or search engine:

• Cited By: Use these links and buttons to find newer sources that have used your source as a reference.
• Similar Articles, Related Articles, You might also like..., and other similar tools: Use these links and buttons to find sources that may be about the same topic.

The Basics

The PICO framework helps you think about what you want to know. It breaks your question into four parts:

P

• Stands for the Patient, Population, or Problem. (Who or what are you studying?)
• Could include things like: preexisting health conditions, age group, biological sex, ethnicity, geographic location.
• You may have more than one idea as part of your P. Only focus on the most important one(s).
• Example: adults with repetitive motion shoulder injuries

I

• Stands for the Intervention OR Exposure. (What did you or something else do to them?)
• Could include a medication, a procedure, a training session, a chemical accident, a natural disaster, etc.
• Choose a single intervention. (Your intervention could have multiple parts.)
• Example: rest

C

• Stands for Comparison or Control. (What else could you have done? What else could they have been exposed to?)
• Could include a different medication, a different procedure, the standard of care, a placebo, or nothing.)
• Choose a single comparison. (Your comparison could have multiple parts).
• Example: modified strengthening exercise

O

• Stands for Outcome. (What result do you expect from your intervention?)
• Could be something positive (such as a reduction of symptoms) or something negative (such as increased risk of a side effect).
• Be specific.
• Discuss with your patient to identify the outcome(s) that matter most.
• Example: Increased range of motion 

Use those parts to structure your question. For instance, you could ask "In <Population>, what is the effect of <Intervention> compared to <Comparison> on <Outcome>. Example: In adults with repetitive shoulder injuries, what is the effect of rest compared to modified strengthening exercises on range of motion?

You can use AND to combine those parts in your search. Usually, you will only need to include two or three parts in your actual search.

Example Search:

repetitive shoulder injury AND rest  AND strengthening exercises

Extensions

Some people also add one or more additional parts:

T: Time. (What is the duration of the study?)

T: Type of Question. (Do you want to know about therapy, diagnosis, etiology, or something else?)

S: Setting. (Where does the intervention take place?)

S: Study Design. (What kind of study would help you answer this question?)

Other Frameworks

PICO is a common framework. Other frameworks, such as SPICE or PEO will be more appropriate for some topics.

• Take a moment to plan your search before you begin.  The time you spend on thinking and planning can help you build a more robust search that will hopefully return better results.
• Think about the types of resources you're hoping to find.  Are you looking for an overview, a case study, articles, best practice guidelines?  For general information a textbook in Occupational Therapy Collection may be your best bet, whereas if you're looking for an article comparing specific therapies you might choose CINAHL or PubMed.  Take a moment to think about what resource can provide the resources you're looking for.
• Don't be afraid to ask for help when planning, executing, and evaluating your search!  Natalie Hutchinson in your program's liaison librarian, and will be happy to work with you in person or via Zoom at a time convenient for you.