When starting your research you want to think about all the elements of your question that will impact the types of resources you find. What are the most important elements? How can you make sure to include the patient's background in your search? How can you take the scenario in front of you and turn it into a question that you can search for?
Iwígara: American Indian ethnobotanical traditions and science by
"A beautiful catalogue of 80 plants, revered by indigenous people for their nourishing, healing, and symbolic properties." --Gardens Illustrated The belief that all life-forms are interconnected and share the same breath--known in the Rarámuri tribe as iwígara--has resulted in a treasury of knowledge about the natural world, passed down for millennia by native cultures. Ethnobotanist Enrique Salmón builds on this concept of connection and highlights 80 plants revered by North America's indigenous peoples. Salmón teaches us the ways plants are used as food and medicine, the details of their identification and harvest, their important health benefits, plus their role in traditional stories and myths. Discover in these pages how the timeless wisdom of iwígara can enhance your own kinship with the natural world.
Today we will be using the book Iwígara to assist us in researching specific plants that many cultures have a connection to in order to better understand how we can research topics from a place of cultural humility. Each group will have a specific plant assigned to them and we will be simulating that you are conducting a literature search to assist a patient who is asking about said plant. You will be using many resources and running more than one search to find the information you need.
1. Isolate keywords from your topic.
2. Narrow your search results to include all of your keywords using AND.
"United States" AND cultural competence AND health care
3. Expand your search using OR to find like terms.
"United States" AND "cultural competence" AND ("health care" OR healthcare)
Combining search terms with AND:
For Example
A search for "United States" yields 314,000 results results
A search for cultural competence yields 1,700 results
A search for cultural competence AND "United States" yields 429 results
Combining search terms with OR:
For Example
A search for "health care" yields 263,000 results
A search for healthcare yields 170,000 results
A search for "health care" OR healthcare yields 317,000 results
For Example
A search for caregiver yields 13,300 results
A search for caregiver NOT family yields 6,700 results
Use Quotation Marks to:
This shows the search engine that you want the terms to be found together. The search will look for exactly what you place in the quotation marks, so be sure there are no mistakes.
For Example
A search for United States yields over 500,000 results
A search for "United States" yields about 300,000 results
Use Truncation to:
Search engines match your exact terms to results; they will not automatically find an alternate version of it. Truncation tells the search to match the root of your term and gives it freedom to find whatever endings it can.
For Example
A search for cultural yields 36,000 results
A search for cultur* yields over 95,000 results
