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Boxer Library

Clinical Skills Library Orientation

This is the companion guide for the Clinical Skills Orientation library lecture.

Background vs. Foreground

State Your Question

The first step to searching is to identify your research or clinical question. This will help you focus your topic before you start searching.

Example:

Do antibiotics reduce wound infection in women who have had an elective Caesarean section

Extract Terms from Question

Before you start searching the databases you need to identify the words you are going to enter into the text boxes. 

Example Question:

  • Do antibiotics reduce wound infection in women who have had an elective Caesarean section?
Terms from question:
  • Antibiotics
  • Wound Infection
  • Caesarean Section

Create a Search Formula

A search formula is how to tell the database how to relate multiple terms to one another.

A search formula is term 1 + And, Or, Not + term 2.