In order to research a topic efficiently you will need to narrow your search results.  This can save you time.   Hanna, our health sciences librarian, walks you through an example of how to narrow your search results. 

Topic example: Diversity in the nursing workforce

1. Pick out the main concepts: Diversity - nursing - workforce

2. Run a search using AND/OR and see what happens! ArticlesPlus or CINAHL are both good databases to use.

ArticlesPlus is VERY multidisciplinary, so there will be a lot of results, but there will be many different aspects. CINAHL is specific to nursing and allied health, so there will be less, more specific results. One way to narrow the search would be to choose a more subject-appropriate place to search.   

3. If you do not like the results you see, think about the words you are searching. Is the word 'workforce' the only way to describe the concept? Nope! What about: hospital - work - nursing home - health industry? Diversity could be described in other ways as well: diverse, ethnic diversity; cultural diversity, etc. This is when you start to ask yourself questions. What workforce am I most interested in? What kind of diversity? What outcomes am I looking for in my search?

For example, lets say I am actually more interested in ethnic diversity among hospital staff, specifically nurses. So I am going to search CINAHL with a different search (click to see search and results)

I went from over 350 results to 50 results and some of the first couple articles look great!

For more help from Hanna, visit her subject & course guides.