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Systematic Reviews and Evidence Based Practice: Searching the literature

The search...

 Searching in this way is a time consuming and above all an iterative process. 
 Search terms and strategies will need to be tested, amended and re-run several times

  1. Identify main search terms (listing synonyms/alternative terms).
    See our Information Skills Tutorial for more information on choosing search terms
  2. Decide on inclusion/exclusion criteria.
  3. Create and record a search strategy (see worksheet below), combine search terms and employ advanced search techniques
  4. Carry out the search in chosen databases
  5. Save the search strategies (for each database).
  6. Remove duplicate papers (RefWorks can help with this).
  7. Apply inclusion/exclusion criteria.
  8. Save all relevant papers.
  9. Critically evaluate what you have found.

Where to Search

  1. Databases
    As a general rule the core medical databases Medline (OVID) and Embase need to be searched for medical/health subject area. For additional databases check the Subject Guide for your topic.
  2. Reference and citation searching of key articles. Databases such as Web of Science and Scopus include resources / tools which allow you to view and search for citations.
  3. Hand searching of key journals and authors.
  4. Grey Literature.
  5. Professional organisations and contacts.

Subject Headings

The main health and medical databases use controlled vocabulary to organise content;

Medline (OVID) uses MeSH (medical subject headings)

CINAHL Ultimate uses CINAHL Headings

EMBASE (OVID) uses Emtree

PsycInfo (OVID) uses Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms

These are lists of standardised, preferred terms used by each database to organise and describe topics, regardless of the terminology used by the article’s authors.

Click here to view OVID's quick tutorial on special techniques in Medline including MESH headings - recommended.

Database Personal Accounts

Most databases will allow you to create a personal account, enabling you to:

  • Save searches and individual articles.
  • Create folders to organise what you have found.
    e.g. for different modules or different chapters within dissertations or projects.
  • Set up email alerts so the database notifies you when new articles are published.

Each database is different but look on the screen for where it states, My Account, Personalisation, Create an Account or similar and follow the instructions.