1. Chapter 7 Literature Searching
© Nursing Research: An Introduction by Pam Moule and Margaret Goodman (2009, SAGE)

2. Learning outcomes
Understand the steps involved in a literature search.
Carry out a literature search of a topic in the reader’s area of research/practice interest.
Understand how to locate the relevant literature for a research question/topic.

3. What is a literature search?
It aims to identify the most relevant
resources related to a topic that:
help to provide background information about a topic
gives information about research already conducted about a topic
is up to date.

4. Steps in a literature search
Focus on your question.
Decide on the most appropriate sources.
Perform a scoping search by:
dividing your search into a series of concepts
thinking of alternative terms for each concept
searching for each concept separately
combining concepts using Boolean logic
limiting your search.
Revise your search, as necessary, and replicate in other sources.

5. Creating a set of search terms
Be exact about what you a looking for and break down into keywords or concepts.
Expect to have several different ways of expressing these keywords – don’t forget spelling variations and abbreviations.
OR you could use PICO:
Patients or Population
Intervention
Comparison (optional)
Outcome(s).

6. What kinds of literature?
Generally speaking, the aim of a literature search (which
you will need to do for your review) is to identify as many
items of secondary data as possible. Secondary data is
data that already exists, for example:
books
journal articles
conference papers
reports
newspapers
data bases
published statistics
videos, films, broadcasts
electronic databases
the Internet

7. Any current research on my topic?
Check these databases for details of ongoing
research:
The National Research Register (NNR) - holds details of all research projects approved by the NHS and includes records of ongoing and recently completed projects.
The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme  a national programme of research funded by the Department of Health R&D programme.

8. Commonly used databases
CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature)
British Nursing Index
Allied and Complementary Medicine
MEDLINE (Medical Literature Online)
Cochrane Database
EMBASE (the Excerpta Medical database)
PsychoINFO (Psychology Information)
National Research Register
ReFeR (Department of Health Research Findings Register)

9. Natural language
Uses your own words and searches words and phrases (typically from the title, abstract and keyword fields) to retrieve records.
Potentially can search any field of a database.
Can be very precise (but there can be ambiguities, e.g. moderation of an exam or within reasonable limits).
Some problems:
Plurals, e.g. child or children
different spellings, e.g. faecal or fecal
different terminology, e.g. pavement or sidewalk
Prefixes, e.g. prenatal, pre natal, pre-natal.

10. Database features to support natural language (1)
Truncation (e.g. *, $) used to search for different word stems and word endings:
use comput* to find computer, computers, computed, computing etc. (BUT comp* would find compost!)
Wild cards (e.g. *, ?) used to search for spelling variants:
use leuk*mia to find leukaemia or leukemia
Proximity and adjacent operators (e.g. adj. or near):
motor near2 accidents

11. Database features to support natural language (2)
Proximity
It is also possible to specify how close together your search terms appear, by using w (for within) and a number (for the number of words between the terms):
e.g. customer* w/3 service* will retrieve customer service, services to customer, and services to our customers

12. Database features to support natural language (3)
Documenting a search
helps to avoid duplication, allows replication in future, e.g. date of search, sources searched, numbers of hits, details of strategy etc.
Reference management
Reference Manager, EndNote etc.

13. Example of a very good search#
Search History
Results 1
exp Leg Ulcer/
3883 2
exp Venous Ulcer/
696 3
1 or 2 4
exp "Bandages and Dressings"/
4380 5
exp BANDAGING TECHNIQUES/
504 6
exp COMPRESSION THERAPY/ or exp COMPRESSION GARMENTS/
1181 7
(bandag$ or dressing$ or stocking$).mp. [mp=title, subject heading word, abstract, instrumentation]
5701 8
4 or 5 or 6 or 7
6696 9
3 and 8
1155 10
limit 9 to (clinical trial and nursing journals) 43

14. Example of a good search#
Search History
Results 1
exp Leg Ulcer/
3883 2
exp Venous Ulcer/
696 3
1 or 2 4
exp Compression Therapy/ or exp BANDAGING TECHNIQUES/ or exp "Bandages and Dressings"/
5164 5
3 and 4
995 6
limit 5 to (clinical trial and nursing journals) 39

15. Example of a poor search#
Search History
Results 1
(leg ulcers and bandages).mp. [mp=title, subject heading word, abstract, instrumentation]
230 2
limit 1 to (clinical trial and nursing journals) 16