Now look at your keywords and decide which search tools to use with each keyword to create your search. Generally you will use:
- AND between your topics
- OR between alternative words for a single topic
- Truncation * and Wildcard ? for word variations
- Phrase searching " " for specific phrases
- Nesting (brackets) to combine keywords and search tools into a search string
Example
(teens OR teenager* OR "young adults" OR youth OR adolescen*)
AND ("mental health" OR depress* OR anxiety)
AND (exercise OR "physical activity" OR sports)
Hint
- You do not need to include all alternative keywords in your search
- If your initial search doesn't work, try different combinations of keywords
- Search the Abstract field for your keywords
Use this tool to create a search strategy that you can use in a variety of databases.
Cut & paste the results into most database search boxes, including Discover, Proquest, EBSCOhost, Informit and Scopus.
