Searching the Literature

The search is a logical development of the question and inclusion criteria. However, although there are some rules, searching is both an art and a science. Key skills include understanding how to use the various types of search terms and how to limit searches without adversely affecting the results. These are not mechanistic decisions, but nuanced ones that require an understanding of the question and terms that might be used by authors and indexers and how the databases work. The actual implementation of these will vary according to the question, with some questions being more straightforward to search than others. As with all aspects of the review process, the key is transparency. Thus, it is not just a matter of whether the reader agrees with the decisions, but also are they and their rationale clear. This chapter will introduce some of the key concepts in searching such as the use of index and text-words, how these are combined into complete search strings, filtering, accessing-grey literature, and how searches can be evaluated.