Text Word Searching
Search Tip # 3: Phrases in Quotation Marks
Use quotation marks to retrieve phrases in any field. Example: “low back pain”, “future of chiropractic”
Search Tip # 6: Wildcards
Use an asterisk (wildcard) to retrieve all forms of a word (also called truncation). Example: injur* retrieves injury, injured, injuries; chiropract* retrieves chiropractic, chiropractor, chiropractors
Text words, also called natural language, are the words that authors use in their titles or abstracts. In Subject Searching we wrote:
Type a word or phrase into a search box and chances are something will come up. But for really effective searching, it is important to find the right language. Using subject headings, sometimes called controlled vocabulary, is one way to focus on concepts rather than on random words.
This is true if there are subject headings for the concept you are searching for. Often we have no choice but to use text words, and, in fact, good searches use a combination of subject headings (MeSH or ChiroSH, in ICL) and text words.
Search tips #3 and #6 above are helpful search tips. Also keep in mind alternate spellings (mobilization or mobilisation) or different words for the same concept (facet or zygapophyseal joint. Scroll down to see the PubMed Entry Terms).
