Step 7 - Conclusion & Final Tips
The seven step process provides you with a step by step approach to making your literature searches more effective. You can now practice using the techniques described and search for literature in your chosen topic area.
| Step One | Phrase your search idea as a manageable search question. |
| Step Two | Identify the important concepts in your search question. |
| Step Three | Search for relevant MESH headings |
| Step Four | Think of alternative synonyms to describe your search concepts. Carry out a search on these terms, remembering to use the truncation and wild card functions, where appropriate. |
| Step Five | Combine the concepts using boolean operators. |
| Step Six | Apply limits and refine your search strategy, as necessary |
| Step Seven | Save your search strategy and results. |
However, it is important to remember that literature searching is an iterative process. It is unlikely you will be happy with your first search strategy. You may want to test out various terms and, depending on the types of articles they retrieve, add or remove them from your search strategy. Using the approach of combining different concepts and entering each term separately allows you to do this relatively easily, and to continue refining your search.
Remember that it will be necessary to search a number of sources to perform a comprehrensive search, and you may not find what you are looking for by focusing on one particular source.
Finally, always save your search strategy. You may wish to return to it at a later date, particularly if you are undertaking work over a period of time. It is also helpful to make a note of your thought process when searching, and the sources and time periods searched. This information should be included when writing up the methodology of your research projects.