Define your search topic and focus your research question

Databases often contain millions of citations, but not all of them will be relevant to your information needs. Think carefully about your topic and be specific about the search concepts.

For example, suppose you are interested in finding research that has been done on the management of fatigue in cancer patients.

The key concepts for this topic are:

• cancer -- we are interested in patients with any type of cancer

• fatigue

• management of fatigue -- which might include various therapies, nursing care, prevention, or rehabilitation

• research studies