CINAHL Plus with Full-Text: Search Strategy

The Advanced Search page is a great place to start because:

• It can do more than one type of search at a time
• It has several limiting features which help make searches more effective

 Using the following techniques will make  your searching much more effective:

• Start with a simple search on the core aspect of your topic.  If this search successfully finds hundreds or thousands of articles, add additional search words or use limiters to narrow down.  Continue to do this until you have a set of articles on your topic that you can browse through.  Remember you can always adjust the fine points of your search once you've established your successful core search.
  
  Example of a simple, core search:  deep vein thrombosis

•  Broaden the search by using OR
   (Separate search words with OR and enclose in parentheses if all terms are on one line.)
  
  Example:  deep vein thrombosis OR venous thrombosis 

•  Narrow the search using AND to combine terms
   
  Example:  thrombosis and surgical patients
  (This search will find articles that contain both terms) 

Should I Use quotation marks to search multiple words as a phrase?
Quotation marks aren't needed; because this database searches for relevance, the occurrences of the phrase will be first in your result list

Search CINAHL now using these tips!

Boolean searching is the traditional way to search for information in most online databases and on the Internet. Boolean operators or connector words, such as AND, OR, and NOT, are used to create phrases and concepts based on specific rules of search logic.  

For a visual guide to Boolean operators, click here.