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Literature search - Medicine and Health Sciences

To search effectively across the resources in this guide you will need to use a range of searching skills.

Planning your search

The first step in a successful literature search is to plan your search. Think about the keywords you could use, and the resources best suited to your topic, to help you focus your search and find relevant information.

The following resources will help you get started with planning your literature searches in your subject area.

 

Searching the literature

Having planned your search, the next step is to think about the most appropriate resources to use to find relevant information on your topic.

The following resources will help you with this.

 

 

Systematic review

 

 

Searching the web

 

 

Information skills in professional practice

Taking information skills into professional practice

 

Evaluating information

It's important that you critically evaluate any information you find through your literature searches so you can make informed judgements about its relevance and reliability before using it in your work.

 

 

Managing your references

The last stage in the literature searching process is to make sure you're keeping track of the references you've found. Reference Management Software (RMS), such as EndNote, can help you with this.

The following resources will help you get started using EndNote.

 

 

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