Skip to main content

9 things every student should know about before starting a literature search

By

 Healthcare students will be expected to develop the right digital skills to help them to find good quality evidence. Whether you are presenting arguments in an assignment, researching for your dissertation or supporting a patient-care decision you need to be able to search effectively to find the right information.

We often refer to this type of searching as completing a literature search - that is running a search of the relevant literature such as guidelines, reviews and articles. 

We can help you to develop the right skills. There are 9 key steps that you can follow to help you to complete your literature search. Here is a (very) brief summary:

  1. Plan - create a plan of your search to help you to focus on what you need to look for and to make sure you don't forget anything.
  2. Breakdown your question - analyse your question and break it down into different parts so that you are clear on what you need to answer and what you should include.
  3. Identify search terms - from your question identify the keywords and phrases from the different elements of your question. Identify synonyms or alternatives that may be used. Identify as many that you can think of, and use a medical dictionary and thesaurus to help you. You'll use these words in your searches. 
  4. Combine your search terms - think how you can combine your search terms using boolean operators - words like AND, OR and NOT. You can combine search terms to focus your search, or combine terms to expand your search or to exclude certain results.
  5. Filter your results - you can use filters to focus your search results and exclude irrelevant content.
  6. Choose the right resource - make sure you search the right resources. You don't want to waste time searching the wrong type of content. You can choose resources that are specific to the topic you are looking for.
  7. Evaluate your results - once your run your research and have got a list of results, you need to evaluate these to check if they are good quality and relevant to your question
  8. Store your references - you need to keep the references of all the results that you choose to use. You'll often be asked to provide a bibliography and reference list.
  9. Refine and repeat - as you work through your plan and evaluate your search results you may find that you need to change your plan or add more search terms to it. This is perfectly normal - you're learning more about your topic as you search. You can refine your search plan and then repeat your searches to find more relevant information.

What can you do to develop your skills?

Complete our online tutorial Introduction to Literature Searching - You can complete your own search plan as you work your way through the tutorial.

Investigate all our Information Skills tutorials - We have a range of tutorials to help you through every step.

Watch our short video for a quick reminder of all the steps:


If you need more help, please get in touch with our training team.


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kortext eBooks - easy access to key ebooks

By
 You can find information on a wide range of topics from the Kortext ebook collection, including non-clinical topics as well as nursing and medical textbooks.  The ebook interface is easy to use. You can search for keywords, jump to different chapters or add your own notes. Special collections include ebooks for: Karger fast-facts Diversity and inclusion Primary care Psychological professions Wellbeing This collection is available to NHS staff via their NHS OpenAthens username. Link to the collection via the ebooks page on our website. Go to our ebooks help page to learn more about using ebooks or complete our tutorial - Using eBooks . Find more ebooks via Library Search or the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub. Just contact the Health Library for more help finding ebooks.
Post a Comment
Read more

Login to Library Search – step-by-step instructions for NHS staff

By
  Library Search is a discovery tool, allowing you to find items within the library collections. You can search Library Search without logging in to view books and ebooks available in our collections. By logging in to your library account on Library Search you can access a range of additional functionality, such as: Viewing details of your library account Submitting a request to hold a book for you Adding items to your e-bookshelf Saving searches Note that for NHS users logging in to Library Search does not give you access to full-text items. As an NHS member of staff you access online resources using your NHS OpenAthens username. Anatomy of a Library Card First let’s take a quick look at the most important components of your library card. Your library card and library card number give you access to print resources as well as library services. They confirm that you are a member of the library. Your name : this will be printed on your card, so you’ll know it’s yours!...
Post a Comment
Read more

TRIP database - turning research into practice

By
 The TRIP database is a user-friendly search engine making it easy for you to find high-level, good quality information and research. Focusing on healthcare evidence this database offers you the opportunity of completing simple searching as well PICO-based searching and allows you to focus results by content type. Some functionality is freely available without the need to login. You can "go pro" by logging in with your NHS OpenAthens username to access extra resources and functionality. You can link to the TRIP database from our NHS Resources page , where you'll find a list of key NHS-based resources and tools. For more help using the TRIP database go to our TRIP help page or check out the options on the site where blog posts are also available. Contact the Health Library for more information and help.
Post a Comment
Read more