Aliento Program Resources

Tips to keep in mind when using the databases

1.  Have a clear goal or question in mind, take a few moments to break your question down into keywords and synonyms or phrases that will help the database retrieve related articles. 

 Similarly, if you are simply exploring the research, start by building a list of key terms or phrases related to your preliminary research phase. 

              Example. Effects of intergenerational trauma in women's mental health

              Your basic keyword list with other synonyms should look like this... 

1.  intergenerational trauma (transgenerational trauma, historical trauma, ancestral trauma)
2.  women (female, females)
3.  effects (consequences, impacts, implications, influences, results, outcomes)
4.  mental health (mental distress, behavioral effects, coping mechanisms, resilience, mental state, mental wellness, psychological health) 

2.   Now, that you have your list of keywords/phrases, you will need to consider the use of boolean operators to help you run an efficient search. 

Boolean Logic refers to the words " AND, OR, NOT" and their intended usage with manipulating databases to either add, include, or subtract populated information from a data set. The importance of using Boolean Logic when searching through databases is that it allows you to have control over what information the database will populate through your search in order to increase the efficiency and relevancy of your results. 

The use of parentheses, groups terms and controls the order in which the database will search for those terms. 

Quotation marks are used to find exact phrases or terms

The use of * asterisk will find variations of a term 

• Boolean Operator AND will narrow search results

             ex. Female AND intergenerational trauma AND

• Boolean Operator OR will broaden search results

            ex. effects OR consequences OR impacts OR implications OR influences OR results OR outcomes

• Boolean Operator NOT will exclude results using a specific term or phrase

            ex. effects NOT sexual assault 

•   Using parentheses or quotation marks

ex (women AND "intergenerational trauma")  this will prompt the database to group these terms together whilst searching for                   "intergenerational trauma" in that exact order. 

•  Using asterisk    

             ex. wom* =  woman, women     

Your search strategy would look like this when entered in a database such as PsycInfo...... 

This search strategy generated 30 search results with peer review filter applied. This is a manageable set of results.