Performing a literature search

 
1. Introduction 5. Boolean operators
2. Search strategies 6. Summary points
3. Search features 7. Useful databases
4.  Optional features 8. Further help

Summary points

Download a search strategy form and use it to guide you through the following:

  • Define your search question as clearly as you can before starting.
  • Break your question down into topic areas.
  • For each of those topic areas write down different a list of keywords and synonyms.
  • Try snowballing and browsing the databases’ thesaurus to find additional subject headings.
  • Decide if you can use wildcards and/or truncation.
  • Think through where you can combine your search terms with the operators OR/ AND/ NOT and whether or not you could use proximity searching to optimise your search results.  
  • Look at the parameters available to you within each database and decide whether or not they will enable you to focus your search results further.

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