Searching

Search strategy check list (bibliographic databases)

1. Explore freely and collect keywords from many sources
2. Define your research question
3. Identify core concepts, put on different rows connected with AND
4. Find synonyms and alternative spelling, connect with OR (within rows)
5. Remember to use truncation * and ”phrase search”
6. Too many results: use more specific search terms or search in the title field
7. Too few results: add more synonyms or broaden your topic
8. Are there any (new) reviews so that you can get a good overview of the subject?
9. Look through reference lists in good sources
10. Try “View Related Records” (WoS) or “Related articles” (Google Scholar)
11. Try several search tools, you will find different things!