University Libraries

The following directions follows PowerPoint linked above. Please review above materials for reference.

You have a topic, but not a PICO. This is the general flow you will follow to define a PICO, build a search strategy, gather literature, appraise literature, etc. all for your 7811 group papers through several modules.

1. Explore 1 database on your topic. (CINAHL or PubMed) Try a baby search strategy, nothing fancy. See what trends or topics come up to help define your Topic into a more specific PICO.
2.  Design your PICO - use the templates in the Word doc noted above. Narrow or broaden topic/PICO 
3.  In the Word doc noted above, there is a table of synonyms. Spend 30 - 60 min finding words, synonyms, subject headings and MeSH (PubMed). Place them in the table to build a word bank of relevant and inclusive terminology to make a stellar search strategy. This includes doing some casual searching find articles relevant, and use their words and subject headings.
4.  Choose your 2+ final databases and build a comprehensive search strategy (AND/OR) for each. Peer review and pick the best option, based on the results, for each database with your group members.
   •  Compare notes to each other, peer-review 
5.  Define your inclusion/exclusion criteria, adjust search strategy accordingly.
6.  Officially run searches, gather records (I suggest using Zotero). Keep track of what you searched, where, what filters used, how many results, etc. for a reporting table in your paper.
7.  Pick the articles that are most relevant, follow your inclusion/exclusion criteria, and seem to be of quality.
8.  Critical appraise those chosen articles. The ones that pass are your data. These are the ones you summarize. Trends -- discussion of your paper.