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Literature searching for Health Sciences and Medicine

A guide for medical, dentistry and health sciences students undertaking a literature search.

FAQs

Have a question that's not here? Please ask us!

Searching

Check for errors

  • Spelling mistakes/alternatives

  • Search errors (AND, OR, truncation or proximity, see Your search strategy)

Add more search terms

  • Words with a similar meaning

  • Alternative spelling

  • Variations of a word, eg plural

Remove search terms

Sometimes a concept is important for your question but not your search, see if removing them helps, eg:

  • barriers and enablers
  • relationship
  • efficacy

Review your search question

Low result numbers doesn't mean your search is bad. It can mean this is an emerging area of research.
If you aren’t getting enough results for your task you may need to broaden your search question.


A large number of results isn't a problem, however too many irrelevant results are.

  •  

Investigate results

  • Check the first 3 pages of your results, trying to find a pattern of why these irrelevant results have been retrieved. 

Get specific

  • Are there specific terms that will provide better results? For example:
    • exercise training instead of exercise.
    • Low back pain instead of back pain

Add concepts

  • Check you haven't missed any concepts

Check errors in your search

  • Does it feel like a whole concept is missing?
    • You may have used an OR instead of and AND
  • Check you have used phrases (quote marks) for words used in exact order

 

For more information and more review types check our Which review is that? library guide

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Answer a specific question by summarising all evidence that meets set criteria.

The methods used to search for and analyse the data are published.

In order to analyse the data effectively inclusion and exclusion criteria are needed eg types of studies, number of participants in each group, age of participants.

Example systematic review: Systematic review and meta‐analysis on the use of probiotic supplementation in pregnant mother, breastfeeding mother and infant for the prevention of atopic dermatitis in children.

SCOPING REVIEW

Look for all evidence that meets set criteria, but often address a broad question.

They are used to identify knowledge gaps, scope a body of literature, 
clarify concepts, investigate research conduct, or to inform a systematic
review.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria are used.

Example scoping review: Youth engagement in HIV prevention intervention research in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

LITERATURE REVIEW

Summarise history, importance, and collective thinking on a particular topic.

Up to author to decide what is included, no set criteria.

Example literature review: A question of self-preservation: immunopathology in influenza virus infection

Subject headings are standard descriptions used by databases to help with searching. They help retrieve articles on a topic, even if different words are used in the text.

 

The whole collection of subject headings is called a controlled vocabulary or thesaurus.

Watch this video (4 minutes) on the basics of subject headings.

 

See tutorial for individual database instructions.

Databases

PubMed gives quick, relevant results.

The interface and search algorithm are a bit more "google-like".

Ovid gives greater search control

Has a greater number of search fields and filters. Quick, basic search also available.

  • The 2 platforms have the same MEDLINE content.
  • You may find different results due to how they search.
  • You can search whichever platform you prefer.
  • Either can be used for systematic reviews and scoping reviews, however it is not necessary to include both.
  • Ovid MEDLINE is a subscription database, a University of Melbourne account is needed to access.
  • PubMed is freely available to search, however subscriptions are needed to access many full text articles.
  • For a detailed comparison check this presentation from Ovid.

 

A multidisciplinary database does not have one focus, such as medicine, but covers a range of disciplines such as health, sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities.

Here are three widely used multidisciplinary databases:

  • Scopus (Elsevier) 
    Physical sciences, health sciences, life sciences, social sciences & humanities.
    International and specialized disciplinary coverage.
    Conferences: Yes
     
  • Web of Science 
    Science, technology, social sciences, arts and humanities.
    Good coverage of material pre-1970. Selects "journals of influence".
    Conferences: Yes
     
  • Google Scholar 
    All subject areas.
    Limited search options.
    Conferences: Yes, also tutorials, posters, presentations, newsletters (not peer-reviewed)

 

They can be useful for:

  • Exploratory searches - finding out what is published on your topic
  • Multidisciplinary research - if your topic includes another discipline eg engineering, psychiatry, education.
  • Author, related item and citation searching

Academic literature


A scholarly journal article is written by experts and goes through a process of peer review.

Peer review

Experts in the field are asked to rigorously check an article for quality, originality and accuracy.

This feedback is given to the editor who decides if the work is suitable for inclusion or needs revisions.

Click spots below for more information:


 
Database contains Can search? Examples

Peer review and non-peer review

  

Look for a:

  • tick box on the search page
  • Limit or Filter on results page

CINAHL

Informit Health Collection

Peer review and non-peer review

 

  

Web of Science

Scopus

Google Scholar

Only peer reviewed journals

 

  

Medline (Ovid)

PubMed


Peer-reviewed journals may also contain articles that are not peer reviewed, such as letters to the editor, opinion pieces, and book reviews.


Scholarly books, conference proceedings, textbooks and reference works are all other types of academic literature and may appear in library databases.

Check with your tutor or lecturer what is suitable for a particular assessment.


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