How to make a structured search

When searching for material, it is a good idea to search in a structured way. This allows you to test different search terms and see which words work and which don't, so that you don't miss important evidence. This is particularly important if you are doing a literature review but is also useful for other types of studies.

The Structured database search video below provides examples of how to structure a search on a given topic with search examples from the PubMed database.

Structured database search - examples from the PubMed database

PubMed: Building a Search. Johns Hopkins.

Building blocks using SPICE framework

Video (3:48). Building blocks. A video using SPICE in a block search strategy. Medical Faculty Library, Lund University.

About block search - combine your keywords

With a block search, you conduct a search in several steps. You start by selecting the most important keywords in your query. Each concept with synonyms corresponds to a search block and they are combined within the block using OR. The different blocks are then added together using AND.