Nursing Research Guide

1. Brainstorm keywords and synonyms 

consider:

Synonyms (popular and medical/nursing terminology):

hypertension OR “high blood pressure”

“heart attack” OR “cardiac arrest”

Antonyms: example: seizure; anti-seizure

Word variations: nurse, nurses, nursing, (nurs*)

Put quotations around your terms for exact searches (examples: “patient confidentiality”, “dosage calculations”)

2.Use AND/OR/NOT between concepts

• “high blood pressure” OR hypertension (either/any)

• hypertension AND women AND treatment (all)

• diabetes NOT gestational (remove from results)

3. Use Limits to reduce results:

• limit to full text
• add more keywords or use more specific keywords
• limit search terms to the article title or subject
• limit or sort by date