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Find Topic Ideas from:
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Gain broad understanding of your topic
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Content of this page:
CAUTION
If you are looking to find a relationship between terms, you don’t need to use words like “compare” “contrast” or “relationship” in the search. If you do, it implies that you already know the How and Why and that will bias your search.
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Background Questions
Background questions usually address What, When, Where, How, etc. These are the types of questions that health sciences professionals need to ask when getting started in their research process. Some examples of background questions include:
On the table below are some useful sources to address background questions:
| Type of Information | Sources (see tab on the right for examples) | |||
| Open Web (Wikipedia) | Textbooks | Article Databases |
UpToDate |
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| Background & General Information | * | X | ||
| Drug Info | X | X | X | |
| Original Research | X | |||
| Point-of-Care | X | X | X | |
| Reviews | X | |||
| Statistics | X | |||
* Use in combination with other sources since the information in Wikipedia has been found to be incomplete
EXAMPLES of:
General Info: definitions, certification or degree info, professional practice standards, professional organization info
Drug Info: uses, effectiveness, interactions, adverse reactions, dosage
Original Research: benchmarks, randomized controlled trials, cohort studies
Point-of-Care Info: products and/or services used at moment of care
Reviews: compilation or overview of research evidence
Statistics: population counts, etc.
Full Text of an Article: when you have the citation, enter the article title in the search box
Textbook: course materials
1. Open Web:
(online encyclopedias and dictionaries, professional organizations’ sites, universities’ and colleges’ sites, and government sites)
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Encyclopaedia, and Dictionaries: |
The Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health, 2013 MedlinePlus includes an Encyclopedia and a Tutorial on Understanding Medical Words. Wikipedia (use with caution). Use it for a very general overview of your topic and for its list of References or Further Readings at the end of the essay. |
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Dictionaries |
Visual Thesaurus -- allows you to try 3 "visual searches" for free; it is subscription based. It creates word maps. Wordnik -- online dictionary that integrates visualization tools, social media, etc. Other features: historical popularity of a word, feeds of real-time mention in twitter, etc. |
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| Professional organizations | ||
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Government sites |
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2. Article Databases:
is a free full-text database of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM). is a freely accessible search engine that lets users look for both physical and digital copies of articles. In settings, add BCIT, and it will FIND full-text@BCIT -- articles available via BCIT databases.Search within these collections for specific eBooks:
Almost 200 titles covering subjects from Health, Art, Business & Science, and more. the books here have been subjected to independent and external peer review before publication. Online version of the Merck Manual for patients and caregivers Enhanced online version of the Merck series of healthcare books for medical professionals, includes treatments, drugs, and dosage regimens is a full-text electronic literature resource of books and documents in life sciences and health care at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).There are two good reasons to search other places (besides library databases) for evidence in a comprehensive search:
1. Find references to key studies your database searching may have missed by reading (for example):
2. Find studies, programs, or reports that aren't published in scientific journals or books by searching for (for example):
Many of these sources and documents are considered "grey literature". Whether you cite these sources as evidence, or they point you to evidence in the published literature is often based on contextual factors specific to your research. A librarian can help you figure it out. We've made things a bit easier by compiling key sources for grey literature, which you'll find on the left-hand side of this guide.
Example question: what is the effect of yoga on high blood pressure?
The main concepts in your question form the foundation of your search
Once you have identified the main concepts in your search question, the next step is to identify synonyms for each of your concepts.
To cover the range of terminology used in the literature, you must also identify any synonyms or similar keywords for each concept:
Also consider:
Once you have your list of terms for each concept, you can combine them to create a search strategy.
Another Example for Choosing Better Search Terms:
Now that you have search terms, let's see how you can replace them for more scientific or medical terms to improve your search.
High School Football Example
The boxes below reveal some better words for your search.
| Beginning Search Terms | Improved Replacement Terms |
| high school | teenage, adolescent |
| head injuries | brain concussion, head trauma |
| concussion | brain concussion |
| helmet | head protection |
Wikipedia.
Is your search term or concept called anything else? Look it up in an encyclopedia to find out.
For example, in the wikipedia entry for "hypertension", the synonym high blood pressure is quickly identified in the opening sentence. This is true for most wikipedia entries for scientific and medical terminology. It is wikipedia, so exercise caution when using this as a background reading source.
You can also easily find synonyms in other background sources, including your lecture notes, as well as textbooks, other encyclopedias (MedlinePlus) and B.C. and Canadian Government agencies.
Background sources provide you with the kind of contextual information on a topic that always comes in handy when you're searching!
Mine Relevant Articles for "Subject Headings"
Let's say you find a relevant article on a topic. Maybe you have this from your reading list, or the instructor suggested it to you, or you found it on wikipedia's reference list.
To find out how if this article is indexed in controlled vocabulary databases, search if the Library subscribes to the journal here. Once you open the article's complete record, the subject headings will be listed.