Physician Assistant : Library Lecture Guide

Now that you have the question, pick out a few key terms which will be the terms you use to search the databases.

Example question:

• Does ginger reduce nausea and vomiting in patients who are receiving chemotherapy?

Terms:

• Ginger
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Emesis
• Chemotherapy

If you have more than one term, you will need to put together the terms in such a way that tells the database how you want them related. One way you can do this is to create a search strategy. 

You can see that there is something called connector in the search strategy. Connectors are what tells the database how to relate the terms to one another. The image below identifies the three connectors with uses and examples.