Need help with your literature search?

Do you need to answer a question?

When you need an answer to a healthcare question you need to find out what information already exists about it; so that you have the background information and latest research. Whether it is for an assignment, dissertation, research, audit or other work you need to complete a literature search to get the latest information and best evidence to answer your question.

Complete a literature search plan

How do you start your literature search? Start with a plan. Make a literature search plan to help you to focus your search, be systematic and keep a record in case you want to repeat it.

How can the Health Library help you?

Information Skills etutorials

Develop your information searching skills by completing our short, engaging etutorials. Read presentations, complete quizzes and watch videos to learn the essential skills to finding information efficiently and effectively.

Start off with our Introduction to Literature Searching etutorial. You’ll learn about the key steps to follow and get your own plan at the end.

Here’s a quick overview of the skills you’ll develop:

Training courses

If you need more help, then book on a training course with one of our librarians. You can attend in person or online and join a group session or arrange a personalised, 1-to-1 session. Our experienced librarians will help you to create your plan and show you our popular databases.

Literature Search Service

NHS staff who struggle to find the time to complete their own literature searching can ask the library to do it for them! Our knowledgable literature searching team can complete a search on your behalf. You’ll get a report of articles matching your search criteria.

Access Resources

Are you ready to run your search? We list all the major resources that we subscribe to on our website. You’ll find links to the essential, specialist databases that you need.

More help

If you need any help finding or accessing information, please contact the Health Library for more support.

Comments

Kortext eBooks - easy access to key ebooks

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.

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

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!...

TRIP database - turning research into practice

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.

Information Skills for Health

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