Search Help

Welcome to the Search Help page! Here you will find information on the functionality and searchability of CADTH Grey Matters tool, including browsing, basic and advanced searching, printing, saving, and sharing results.

Using the CADTH Grey Matters Tool

The Grey Matters tool provides you with the following options:

Browsing

Browsing the Grey Matters Categories

Records included in the Grey Matters tool are organized by categories. To see all of the categories, click on the Browse Categories tab. The categories can then be sorted by Count or Alphabetical. One or more categories can be selected from the categories list. To display the records listed in specific categories, click on the Apply button.

Records listed in the selected categories can be further limited by Organization, Country, or Language, which can be found under the Narrow Results By heading. Refer to the Search Results section for more information on how to limit or manage your results.

Browsing Other Resources

The Grey Matters Lite resource is listed under the Other Resources tab. Grey Matters Lite is a shortlist of the key resources of the Grey Matters tool. To display the full list of records included in this resource, select Grey Matters Lite and click Apply.

Under the Narrow Results By heading, you can select 1 or more categories from the Category list. To display the records listed in specific categories, click Apply.

Records listed in the selected categories can be further limited by Organization, Country or Language, which can be found under the Narrow Results By heading. Refer to the Search Results section for more information on how to limit or manage your results.

Searching

For most searches, there is no need to enter any special operators or commands. The search engine will try to find the most relevant items with the words you use.

Search Tips

Phrase Searches

To search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks.

E.g., If you type Health Canada, the search engine will retrieve all records that mention health or Canada. If you type “Health Canada” in quotations, the search engine will only retrieve records that contain the exact phrase entered.

Lower- or Upper-Case Letters

The search engine is not case-sensitive. For example, a search on nice will also retrieve results on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (i.e., NICE).

Spelling Corrections

The search engine will automatically search variations on common words, but may also suggest alternate words or corrections to typos and spelling errors, especially if no results were found.

Basic Search

In the main search box, you can enter words or phrases. It is not necessary to enter any specific operators or commands because the search engine will try to find the most relevant results with the words you use.

Search Operators for Basic Search

Boolean Operators

In the main search box, you can combine search terms with the AND, OR, and NOT Boolean operators. The Boolean operators must be in ALL CAPS.

E.g., To find records related to FDA medical devices, you can combine the key terms using Boolean Operators: FDA AND device.

Grouping Terms

You can use parentheses to group terms and phrases. This can be very useful if you want to control the Boolean logic for a query.

E.g., To search for records that contain safety or advisory, but not >device, type: (safety OR advisory) NOT device.

Using Wildcards and Truncation

Wildcards are used to search for a root word’s alternate spellings and variations. Wildcards take the place of 1 or more characters in a search term.

A question mark (?) is used for single character searching (anywhere in the word). It is most useful to search for variant spellings of a word.

E.g., p?ediatric will return results for paediatric or pediatric.

An asterisk (*) is used for multiple character searching. It is used at the end of a root word (referred to as truncation) to search for variable endings to a root word.

E.g., gene* will retrieve gene, genes, genetics, and generation, generalized, generalization.

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search allows you to perform more specific searches by selecting one of the following search fields: Title, Category, Organization, Country, or Language.

To access the Advanced Search form, select the Advanced Search tab.

Use the Select a Field dropdown menu to select a field that you would like to search, then type in your search terms. You can search up to 3 fields at once to help narrow down your search results. You can choose Contains to search for the terms you entered or Does Not Contain to exclude the terms you entered.

Search Results

Sorting Search Results

Records listed in the selected categories can by sorted by Title or Relevance.

Narrowing Results

Records listed in the selected categories can by further limited by Organization, Country, or Language, which you can find under the Narrow Results By heading. You can use 1 or more of the additional limiting options at a time. They are located below the Category list.

Selecting Records

A customized list of selected records can be created by clicking on the Select button that is available at the bottom of each record. These selected records will then be added to the Selections list. Multiple records can be added to or removed from the list across different searches. To view or edit your list of selected records, click on the Selections button in the site navigation menu.

Individual records can be removed from the Selections list by clicking on the Remove button (located below the Notes field area of the record). To remove all records from the Selections list, click Clear All (located above the record list).

Note: To create a new Selections list, all records must be removed by using the Clear All button.

The list may be printed, copied, saved to PDF, exported to EndNote format, sent by email, or shared (using social media tools).

A permalink (a unique permanent URL that leads directly to the CADTH Grey Matters record) is provided for each record. To have the permalink displayed in the URL address bar, click on the Permalink button below each record (located below the Notes field area).

You may copy the URL to this record, share it, bookmark it, save it, and so forth. As long as this record exists, this URL will take you to this record.

Printing Records

To print selected records, click on the Print/Copy button located above the record list.

Saving Records

As Word File (Or as Different Text Editor File)

To save your search results into a Word document (or a different text editor), click on the Print/Copy button located above the records list, select all text, copy selected text, paste it to a new Word document (or a different text editor), and save it.

The URL links will be active for each website in the list.

Most records include tips on how to navigate the websites.

You can use the Notes field to add search terms for each website you searched.

As a PDF File

To save selected records as a PDF file, click on the PDF button, which is located above the records list, then open the PDF document and save it.

The URL links will be active for each website in the list.

Most records include tips on how to navigate the websites.

Via Email

To send your search results via email, select records by clicking on the Select button (it is located below the Notes field), open the Selections list, and click on the Email button, which is located above the records list.

Once you type in an email address in the space provided and click Send, your list will be sent as a PDF attachment.

Most records include tips on how to navigate the websites.

EndNote Export

To export your search results to EndNote citation software, select each record by clicking on the Select button (it is located below the Notes field), open the Selections list, and click on the EndNote button, which is located above the records list.

You must have the EndNote library open to import the selected records to EndNote.

For records that include tips on how to navigate websites, the tips will be exported to the Notes field in the Endnote library.

Sharing Results

The Share button is available for each record in your search results (it is located below the Notes field). It is also available for all records listed in your Selections list. You may choose one of the available social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn) to post the item(s) to.