MEDLINE search tips: Narrow or Broaden

If your search retrieves too many articles, consider the following techniques to get less results.

• Limit to the main theme of the article by using Focus on main subject heading(s)
• Select subheadings to limit to a particular aspect of your topic (e.g. therapeutic use, complications)
• Apply limits such as age groups, clinical queries, or publication types
• Add another concept to your search, then combine it with your other terms using "and"
• Try taking out keywords which may be retrieving too much



If your search retrieves few or no citations, consider the following techniques to broaden your search:

• Use the Explode feature to include more specific terms e.g. exploding Fractures, Bone includes Spinal Fractures, Tibial Fractures, etc, (Note that Explode is the default in PubMed)
• Think of additional synonyms or related terms, then combine them with "or"
• Find a relevant citation and look at the MeSH subject headings for ideas for subject headings to use
• Remove limits
• Remove subheadings
• Use keywords in addition to MeSH headings, combined with "or"
• When keyword searching, try truncating the search term with * e.g. child* retrieves children, childhood, child