PhAST Track Information Skills Module: Fourth Step

Sometimes your assignment question comes with limits built in - for example:

• it only wants information about perscribing in Australia, or
• it only wants information about Elderly patients

Sometimes, the task doesn't come with limits, but you should think about using them anyway.  Some limits you should always think about using are:

• limit to the last five years
• limit to humans (if the database deals with animals and you don't)
• limit to English language (unless you speak another language fluently - but check if your lecturer will accept non-English sources)

Apply limits to your search

Health databases have a fantastic range of limits you can apply to your search some include:

• Date ranges (last 5-10 years)
• Human studies (vs animal studies.  Medline covers Vet Science as well as human health)
• Type of publication (review vs Clinical trial vs randomised trial etc.)
• Male/female (where a disease may be carried by one sex but presents and effects the other)
• Age of patient (treatment for a child vs a 40 year old vs an 80 year old may be different)
• Language (article abstracts are in English but the full-text may be in a foreign language so choose English)

Learn more about limits
(takes you away from this guide)

Evaluate your results to see if further refinement is required

After you have completed your search, look at the results.  Do they provide you with the sort of results you were expecting? If not why not? You may need to change your search to give a better result. 

If you find a couple of articles that help answer your topic, look at how that database describes them (subject headings/keywords).  they may provide some words you should add to your search.

Learn more about evaluating results
(takes you away from this guide)