Advanced Cinahl

Advanced searching in CINAHL

Prepared by Graham Spooner, July 2009 , The College of NursingACN 000106 829

2009 The College of Nursing. This publication is copyright. Except as expressly provided in the Copyright Act (1968) no part of this publication may be reproduced by any means (including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission from The College of Nursing.

What is “Advanced”?

Today’s session• Ovid versus EBSCO• Boolean (logic and illogic)• Focus pocus• Explosions galore• Outer Limits• Shortcuts

Today’s session - continued

Working with results• Manipulation • Salvation• Personal preferences• Feed me

Tips & tricks

OvidSP versus EBSCOHost

Same:• Mapping turned on • Can choose to search other fields • Limits on display

OvidSP versus EBSCOHost

Similar:• Citation display & linking

OvidSP versus EBSCOHostDifferent:

No automatic subheadings

display during mapping – need

to click on term to display

OvidSP versus EBSCOHost

Subheadings now

available

OvidSP versus EBSCOHostDifferent:

Explode option not

available for terms at bottom

of tree

OvidSP versus EBSCOHostDifferent (and annoying):

Number of articles not listed

Boolean (logic and illogic)• Effective use of “Not”

– Eliminate aspects of a topic not required eg Health Promotion not Australia

Boolean (logic and illogic)• Effective use of “Not”

– Eliminate items you have already browsed

Boolean (logic and illogic)• Effective use of “Or”

– Combine multiple terms before applying “and”

Focus pocus• Applying retrospectively

Focus pocus

Called “Major Concept” in EBSCO

Why would you not narrow/focus too early?• Unsure of number of results – may end up with too

few • If too many - easier to focus after the fact • Can help identify other potential headings

Another example of when the number of articles would be useful during mapping!

Focus pocus• Applying retrospectively

Knowing the number of articles is useful during mapping

Too many? Go back a screen and Focus first in Ovid

Explosions galore• Only appears if narrower terms exist (ie no

tick box if already at the bottom of a tree)• Applying retrospectively – add a plus sign + after the

term

Explosions galore• If narrower terms are available it is a good idea to have

a look – it may be better to go either broader or narrower

Other term(s)

may be more suitable?

Click on + to see further down the tree

Exploding from further up the tree may be a better option?

Explosions galore

A more specific,

narrower term may hit the

spot?

Outer Limits

Many limits on display at

first screen

Outer Limits

Limits available once

sets are created

Click to display

all Limits

Outer Limits

Limits displaye

d

Outer Limits • Maybe best not to try too many at once?• English not as important as in Medline/ Embase, etc• Publication Type is different to Medline & quite useful eg Research, Questionnaire, Cartoon, etc

Shortcuts•

• Subject search

- Unfocussed – mh before term eg mh stroke- Focussed – mm before term eg mm stroke- Explode - + after the term eg mh stoke+- Subheading /xx after the term eg stroke/et

Shortcuts

•Truncation - * at end of term – eg nurs*• Wildcard - ? - within a term eg wom?n• Proximity – nx – eg baby n2 friendly• Field searching – ti, au, etc before term eg ti “baby friendly” or au clarke b*

Working with resultsThe “Folder” – pros & cons• Add to Folder/Remove from Folder less intuitive than ticking a box• Location not obvious for first timers

Working with resultsThe “Folder” – pros & cons• Icons for Print, email, save obvious• Selecting or deleting simple

Working with resultsThe “Folder” – pros & cons• Page estimate useful• Customise fields to print/email/save

Working with resultsThe “Folder” – pros & cons• Saving file options seems better than emailing at College – neater format when sending• Customise Fields for Output also useful

May need to experiment for best format for local

email system

Working with results

Beware

leaving this

option

ticked…

…sends a separate email for each citation with a pdf attached

Saving and alerting

Personal preferences

Feeds - RSS

Feeds - RSS

Feeds - RSS

Tips and tricks

1. Bypass Mapping and go straight to CINAHL Headings

2. Use “Term contains” or “Term begins with” buttons

3. Browse the terms and select several appropriate ones to build a set – can be more effective than mapping each term

CIHNAHL Headings

More

More – Citation matcher

More – Indexes (Search Fields)

More - Publications• Find out more about the publication – full text coverage, local holdings, indexing period, embargos, etc

• Also easy RSS feed set-up

Tips and tricks

Tried limiting, focus and Boolean and still have thousands of citations?

• Look for keywords in the title only• Re-negotiate with requester – can they refine want they want? • Go back and try subheadings• Quickly browse the set – are there any extra subject terms which can be used to combine? • Limit to full-text and local holdings (be sure to explain pitfalls of this to requester).

Tips and tricksGetting too few citations?

• Re-negotiate with requester – can they expand/broaden or even redefine what they want? • Quickly browse the set – are there any extra subject terms which can be considered? • Remove year limit – maybe there is little recent material on the topic?• Jump to Medline or Embase – some topics are not well covered in nursing/allied health journals• Discuss topic with a colleague – they might recall a good subject heading to try or a similar search that they have attempted in the past• Try ALIAHealth or DoHLib listservs

Tips and tricksAge Groups• Many articles include both children & adult• Limit set to both and then use “not” Boolean operator

Articles dealing with

adults eliminated

Advanced searching in CINAHL

The End

Prepared by Graham Spooner, July 2009 , The College of NursingACN 000106 829

2009 The College of Nursing. This publication is copyright. Except as expressly provided in the Copyright Act (1968) no part of this publication may be reproduced by any means (including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission from The College of Nursing.