When you have carried out some scoping searches, chosen your question and defined your inclusion and exclusion criteria, you are ready to start your formal searching process. In structured literature reviews you will be expected to record the keywords and search string you used to find results and the number of hits you get. It is normally custom only to include the number of hits you get overall across all the databases, but it is a good idea to record the hits for each database individually as well.
To develop a search strategy:
Step One: Choosing your key words.
Before you start searching you need to define your keywords. It’s best to write these down in a list or a mind map before you start searching. If you want some suggestions, it’s a good idea to look at a database with a thesaurus such as EBSCOhost databases. It will also suggest terms as you type them into the search bar. This is one of the most important bits of the search process and there are some things to consider:
Before you start searching you need to define your keywords. It’s best to write these down in a list or table or mind map (concept map) before you start searching. This is one of the most important parts of the search process and there are some things to consider:
Alternative terminology and spelling (US & UK).
Related terms (broader or narrower)
Variations in word endings (e.g. singular, plural, adjectives)
When you have compiled a list of keywords, you are ready to put together what is called a search string. You do this using Boolean operators. There are three common operators, and these are usually sufficient for effective advanced searching:
Most databases have an advanced search menu where you can input terms, but you can also type a freehand “command line” search in some databases. There are a few other tips you can use:
Truncation - this is when the root of a word is entered following by a symbol - typically an asterisk (*) but the syntax can vary across different databases. This instructs the database to search for all keywords which begin with that root.
For example: autis* would search for autism, autistic, Autism Spectrum Disorder, etc. This saves you having to enter each term separately and means you won't miss out on any relevant results if you hadn't entered that specific version of the keyword.
Phrase searching - this is when speech-marks are used around a particular phrase (so two words or more) which directs the database to search for that specific phrase with the words in that order (rather than two separate keywords) - e.g. "language development".
Wildcards - this is the replacement of a letter with a symbol - typically a question mark (?) but again the syntax can vary across databases, for example, wom?n would search for woman or women.
When you have decided on your keywords and search string, you can start searching in the databases, these databases are suggested in your subject guide. You may want to try several databases to get a feel for the ones that give you the best results.
You will need to replicate your search across the different databases and your keywords will be the same across the different databases.
Perfect your search in one database before replicating this across the other databases you will use. This is an iterative process which will involve multiple trial searches testing out different combinations of keywords and subject terms before you can finalise the search strategy and search terms you will use.
You will also need to check the help-guide within the individual database to check the syntax used for truncation and wildcards etc. as these may vary across databases.
Database help-guides include:
For a systematised review, you will need to focus on databases that contain peer reviewed articles. It is custom to select between three- five databases to use in your review.
Google Scholar is not recommended as a replacement for searching across multiple databases because:
Separate database searching versus using the 'Find books and articles' search on the Library website:
Although the Library's Find books and articles search includes the content of most of the databases provided by the University of Lincoln library, the databases do need to be searched separately rather than using this search. Searching each database separately is also key to the transparency and replicability of the process as you (and others) can clearly see which databases have been searched and the numbers of results retrieved from each one.
