Resources for DNP

• Unlike Google, searching library databases requires keywords rather than full sentences.
• Take your topic and pull out the key, important concepts.
• Think of as many synonyms as possible for your key terms
  • Some authors may use different words in their articles/titles with the same meanings, so you may need to switch up your keywords to find the most relevant results
  • Use a thesaurus!

"I prefer using a Google doc or spreadsheet to log my keywords and synonyms. This allows me to keep track of what words I have tried and which yield better results for my topic."

–Tiffany Ellis, Head of User Engagement

Medical Subject Headings, or MeSH terms, are controlled vocabulary terms that are assigned to an article's record. MeSH terms are more consistent in terms of definition and tagging than keywords, and are very useful within medical research.

When are MeSH terms helpful?

• If your keyword is too broad and giving you too many vague results
• When searching certain databases, like CINAHL, that allow you to easily search by MeSH term

When is it better to use keywords?

• If your topic is extremely recent and/or if your topic does not have an appropriately designated MeSH term
• If you need to combine multiple concepts
• If you are searching in databases that do not have MeSH term searchability

Each search is its own journey- you may find yourself combining both methods!

• MeSH Search: Search for MeSH subject headings
• MeSH on Demand: Try out this cool tool that allows you to copy/paste an abstract and receive a list of suggested MeSH terms!