Nursing: Evidence-Informed Practice Search Module- Intermediate

* or $

at the end of string retrieves all suffix variations

e.g., computer* retrieves computer, computers, computerised, etc.

 

#

within a word or at end of word to replace a single character

e.g., wom#n retrieves woman, women

 

?

within a word or at the end of a word to replace zero or one character

e.g., colo?r retrieves color, colour

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No quotes generally required for phrase searching, looks for exact expression by default

 

( )

specifies the order of the search

e.g., (urban OR city) AND freshwater

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adjn

retrieves records that contain your terms (in any order) within a specified number (n) of words of each other

n= 1 to 99

e.g., biologist adj5 relationship retrieves records that contain the words biologist and relationship within five words of each other in either order.

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MeSH terms Explode SH expands results to include records with the SH you originally selected, PLUS all of the subject headings in its family hierarchy

e.g., exp diabetes mellitus/

Focus SH retrieves article records in which indexers consider your topic to be of major significance

e.g., exp *diabetes mellitus/

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