In Medline (EBSCO) there are a couple of recommended filters from the Limit Your Results section:
- PUBLICATION TYPE: Try Clinical Trial, Controlled Clinical Trial, Randomized Controlled Trial, or another publication type appropriate for the studies you need.
- CLINICAL QUERIES: Choose the appropriate focus area for your question (Therapy, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Reveiws, Clinical Prediction Guides Qualitative, Causation, Costs or Economics) and desired scope (High Sensitivity=more articles/some less relevant, High Specificity=fewer articles/higher relevance, or Best Balance). Again, BOTH primary AND secondary research articles will be retrieved, so you will need to examine your results carefully.
Try using these options separately. These will work with keyword searches as well as subject searches. If you are looking for a very specific type of study, try including the study type as a keyword instead of using limiters.
Medline @ NIC
