LibGuides: How to find literature about any veterinary topic for your EBCR or thesis: WHAT? Search profile

Develop a SEARCH PROFILE

STEP 1 Formulate SEARCH QUESTIONS

Prepare yourself

What are good search questions?

Record your choices

How to ...? See this example

A well-formulated search question leads to the most relevant material.

Find out more about your subject before you start,

and determine what you want to know.

Ask yourself if you need some basic knowledge first, or if you want to delve deeply into the subject straight away.

If you want to familiarize yourself with the subject you could visit Wikipedia and/or consult - more scientific - handbooks and encyclopedias in your discipline.

Many of those e-books and reference works are online available via VetPortal, the specific webpage of Utrecht University Library for Veterinary Medicine.

As a result, you will learn more about what knowledge is available (for instance concepts, definitions, technical terms, figures).

A good search question consists of several well-defined and - where possible - measurable elements.

In most cases, you will have to split up your question in sub-questions since many subjects are too complex to find relevant information with only one overall question.

Define concrete answerable questions that are as specific as possible.

For example:

“Is the Netherlands overcrowded with farm animals? ”	too vague
"How many farm animals are living in the Netherlands?''	less vague already
"How many cows (pigs, chickens, goats, rabbits, ... etc.) were living in the Netherlands in 2018?"	better: more specific and measurable

Bron CBS, Statline; April 2019

In the case of searches for a thesis or review, it is recommended to create a SEARCH PROFILE as part of your search strategy.

In other words:

Write down what you are going to do - or have done - and the reason behind your choices.

After STEP 1, your search profile may contain:

All (sub-)questions and the main elements in each question

The domains or angles of approach for each question

In STEP 2, you may add search terms for every element in the questions

Obviously, you may add or cross off things during your search when they are done or if (in the case of search terms) they turned out to be irrelevant.

Subject ►	Colic in the horse
Overall question ►	What treatments and preventive measures exist for colic in horses?
Angles▼	Sub-questions and elements▼
Problem	What are the symptoms of colic in the horse ?
Therapy	Which treatments exist for colic in the horse?
Evidence Based Medicine	Are there results of comparative research of different treatments for colic in the horse?
Etiology	Does colic in the horse occur prior, during or after feeding?
Causes	Is there a relationship between different types of nutrition and the occurrence of colic in the horse ?
Prevention	Can a diet prevent, or reduce the risk of occurrence, of colic in the horse ?

STEP 2 Think up SEARCH TERMS

Generating Search Terms

Record your choices

How to ...? See these Examples

Thinking up the right search terms is one of the major parts of your search strategy.

Go looking for corresponding terms for each element of your search question.

Don't forget:

Scientific descriptions (cancer - neoplasm)
Synonyms (husbandry - housing)
Broader terms (cows - cattle)
Narrower terms (cows - heifers)
Related terms (training - coaching)
Antonyms (opposite terms e.g. parent - child or sick - healthy)

And also think of the different forms:

Singular - Plural (dog/dogs)
Nouns - Adjectives (pig/porcine)
Different spelling (tumor / tumour)
Abbreviations

You don't have to reinvent the wheel!

Use resources:

Earlier found articles: e.g. keywords given by the author
Thesauri of relevant search engines: these give overviews of selected words or concepts in the specific field, and their mutual relations
Wikipedia

The PICO technique - used in evidence based medicine to frame and answer a clinical question - is very useful to structure your literature search strategy.

Adjust your search profile, using the PICO framework.

The acronym stands for:

P – patient, problem, population

I – intervention, influence

C – comparison, control

O – outcome, offspring

Complete the schedule that you've made in Step 1:

Enter now

for each element ...
in each of your questions...

as many appropriate terms and alternative terms as you could think up

question

elements

search terms

ABOUT TREATMENTS AGAINST COLIC

Sub-question 1	Which interventions are used to treat colic in a horse?
Angles	ANIMAL	PROBLEM	INTERVENTION	COMPARISON	OUTCOME
Elements ►	Horse	Colic	Treatment	Alternatives	Getting well
Search terms	horse(s); equidae; equine	colic	pain relieving drugs	laxative; surgery	recovery; cure

ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP NUTRITION < > COLIC

Sub-question 2	Is there a connection between horse-feeding and the occurrence of colic?
Angles	ANIMAL	PROBLEM	'INTERVENTION'	COMPARISON	OUTCOME
Elements ►	Horse		Nutrition		Disorder
Search terms	horse(s); equidae; equine		foodstuffs; animal feed; nutrition; diet		symptoms of colic; colic occurrence;

ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF THE FOOD TYPE

Sub-question 3	Is there a connection between the occurence of colic in the horse and certain types of feed?
Angles	ANIMAL	PROBLEM	INTERVENTION	COMPARISON	OUTCOME
Elements ►	Horse	Colic	Fresh food	Compound feed products	Possible connection
Search terms	horse(s);, equidae; equine	colic	grass; hay; whole grains; oats	pellets	risk; causality