Finding Types of Research

One of the steps in evidence-based practice is to come up with a clinical question that you want to study. The clinical question is generally presented in the PICO(T) format, which will help you come up with keywords to use in your search for articles.

PICO(T) is an acronym for:

• Patient population
• Intervention
• Comparison
• Outcome
• Time

Note! If you need help constructing your clinical question or finding your PICO(T) elements, please reach out to your professor.

After you develop your clinical question and determine the PICO(T) elements, then you are ready to search for articles in the library. 

To help answer your clinical question, you will have to search for relevant articles that report research. Remember, research is evidence. There are a few ways you can search for evidence in the library.

The best place to start your search is the Search Everything box on the library homepage. Use your (P)atient Population and (I)ntervention as the keywords for you search statement. You can also try adding your outcome to your search statement to see if you can narrow your search down further. Please see the How to Do Library Research guide for information on setting up searches.

In addition, the vendors below provide PICO(T)-specific searches.