Free ebook: PICO, MeSH, Emtree, and Boolean searching

A short guide to building a literature search you can report: PICO or building blocks, MeSH and Emtree, truncation, snowballing, and translating the same logic across databases.

What is in the ebook

Practical search technique: PICO, MeSH, Emtree, Boolean, and snowballing. Written for people who have to report the search in a methods section.

  1. 01Formulate research questions using PICO or the building-blocks method.
  2. 02Identify key concepts and synonyms (free-text terms) for a complete search.
  3. 03Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine blocks.
  4. 04Apply controlled vocabulary: MeSH in PubMed, Emtree in Embase.
  5. 05Use truncation and wildcards to capture word variants.
  6. 06Citation searching (snowballing) and reference management.
  7. 07Manage the signal-to-noise ratio so the yield is usable.
  8. 08Translate search strategies across PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and more.
  9. 09Avoid vague terms and skipping index terms.

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