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:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

Hints and Tips for Viewing your Results in Cinahl

By
Cinahl is a nursing specialist database that can help you to find good quality articles and evidence. Once you have run a search you can view the list of articles returned. Page Options You can arrange your results in different formats on the page. For example, show up to 50 articles on one page to avoid a lot of paging; include the abstract so that you can check whether the article is about your topic quickly. Screen-shot of the Cinahl Page Options Sort Options You can sort your results on the page by most recent date – click the Relevance link for sort options. View Full-text To view the full-text click the PDF Full Text link if it is available. If there is no direct link to the full text of an article, check our Journals A - Z to find out if we subscribe to that journal title from another database. Screen-shot of Cinahl search results For more help using Cinahl try our etutorial Using Cinahl .
Post a Comment
Read more

Access eBooks, eJournals and Databases Online

By
NHS staff can access ebooks, ejournals and databases online by registering for an NHS Athens username and password. This single username will allow you to access the online resources that the library subscribes to. Complete the online form to register now and start accessing resources online. For more help using your NHS Athens username see our Athens help page .
Post a Comment
Read more