This page lists different search techniques you can use: boolean search, exact search, masking and tuncation.
Boolean searching means using AND, OR or NOT when searching.
► With AND, you search for sources that contain both terms.
► OR searches for sources containing at least one of the search terms.
► NOT indicates which word CINAHL should not search for.
You look for articles that contain different combinations of search terms.
► Child AND "hearing disorder"
► Child OR "young patient"
► Child NOT baby
Using double quotation marks (". . .") you can make an exact search.
► This means that you search literally for the word combination between the inverted commas.
► This prevents the words between inverted commas from being searched as separate terms.
You look for sources in which the search terms appear in that exact order and proximity.
► Use "Hearing disorder" to avoid looking up Hearing and Disorder as separate keywords.
► Use "Auditory-verbal therapy for promoting spoken language development in children with permanent hearing impairments" to look up this specific article (= title).
Masking means concealing something, e.g. that you don't feel sure about it. Masking is done with an asterisk / * or question mark / ? in the middle of a word.
► Use this search technique if you are not sure of the spelling.
► Use this search technique if you want to search for multiple spelling options (e.g. American and British English).
You let the search engine fill a certain part of a word.
► Search Behavio*r to search for Behavior and Behaviour.
► Search Drug? if you want to search singular and plural simultaneously (Drug or Drugs).
Truncation means leaving out part of the word. In Cochrane, this works with an asterisk / * (one or more characters) or question mark / ? (one character).
► Search with an asterisk or wildcard to break down a word from a specific place and automatically search for all possible endings.
You want to return part of a word anyway and let the search engine search with all possible outputs.
► Use Therap* to search for Therapeutic, Therapies, Therapy ...
► Use *tension to search for Hypertension, Hypotension ...
► Use P*ediatrics to search for Paediatrics en Pediatrics
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