Transcript Document
Conducting a Literature Search “I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.” (Adams, 1979, p.147) Source: Adams, D. (1979) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. London: Pan Books. When searching the literature it is important to construct a question that can be answered Literature searches must be thoughtful and methodical and include a variety of sources. (Smith and Shurtz, 2012, p669) Source: Smith, M. L., and Shurtz, S. (2012) Search and ye shall find: Practical literature review techniques for health educators. Health Promotion Practice. Vol.13(5), pp.666-669. It is important to think about what you are looking for as well as systematically searching through the resources. Think Just as the CoRE breaks down a reference into elements so that you can create a reference. The PICO model breaks down your search terms into elements so that you can create an answerable question and create a meaningful search strategy. P I c o Patient or Population or Problem Breakdown your search terms into their component parts Intervention – what is happening to the patient Boolean Logic breaks up the elements. Comparison - alternative intervention Note: There may not always be a comparison Outcome – measurable in relation to P P AND I AND C AND O Within the component parts use OR to separate synonyms PICO is a four element framework to aid you to create a more focused question that can be answered when searching through the literature. Look at the Joanna Briggs Systematic Review Registered Titles to see PICO in practice http://www.joannabriggs.edu.au/Systematic%20Review%20Registered%20Titles Look at the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions on systematic literature searching - Chapter 6: Searching for studies http://handbook.cochrane.org/ Test yourself with “How to Apply Pico” http://learntech.physiol.ox.ac.uk/cochrane_tutorial/cochlibd0e490.php Try out your PICO on the TRIP (Turning Research into Practice) database. Remember you can use keywords and / or subjects heading from articles found in your preliminary searching to help fill in your PICO elements. Create your own Research folders to save your search strategies within the resources you search. Once saved a search strategy can be rerun and pick up the new articles added to the database over time relevant to your search terms. Export citations from the databases searched into ENDNOTE (Reference Manager Software) to create a library of references. Conducting a Literature Search Lastly have a look at this discussion of the six steps involved in literature searching. Source: McGrath, J. M., Brown, R. E., and Samra, H. A. (2012) Before you search the literature: How to prepare and get the most out of citation databases. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. Vol.12(3), pp.162-170.