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Literature searching and finding evidence

Introductory guide for School of Health & Psychological Sciences students

Developing a strategy

It's important that you spend some time planning and developing an effective search strategy to make sure you find relevant literature efficiently.

You will need to:

  • Determine the key concepts of your topic to identify your main search terms

  • Establish your inclusion and exclusion criteria - what aspects of your topic are you focusing on?

  • Find related search terms to broaden and/or focus your search

  • Decide which resources you are going to search.

Planning, managing the information you find, note-taking and reflecting on your progress as you go, will save you time later on in the process.