Research Tutorial

Sample topic: “Why does therapeutic hypothermia cause cardiac arrest?”  
We recommend using the Advanced Search button on the library homepage. 

Separate the key concepts of your research topic. Each key concept becomes a search term. 

Concept 1: therapeutic hypothermia

Concept 2: cardiac arrest

On the Advanced Search page, you can put each concept/search term into a separate search field. 

The database tries to find articles that contain every search term you use. This means, if an author uses a different keyword than you, their article won't show up in the results list. Therefore, brainstorm synonyms for your keywords. Separate synonyms with OR to tell the database to look for articles with either word.  

The database can help you come up with key words. Start typing in your search terms and then type OR - a dropdown of optional synonyms will come up. Choose the most appropriate words for your topic. 

Final search terms: 

1. Use quotation marks around a group of words to search the words as a phrase. 
2. Add an asterisk after the root word to search for the root word plus all possible endings. Example: Canad* = Canada, Canadian, Canadiens.
3. Use the plus sign below the search box to add additional search fields and further narrow your results.