Literature Search vs. Literature Review

LITERATURE SEARCH:

• Purpose – To narrow down search results based on the research topic

• Characteristics –  Search for one or multiple keywords relating to the research topic 

• TIPS:

  • Make a list of several keywords related to the topic

  • Can determine key terms using PICO mnemonic—Population, Intervention, Comparison intervention, and Outcome measures. 

  • Try different searches with keywords

  • Use AND/OR to search multiple keywords together: This can be done by changing the filter on specific search engines such as PubMed or Google Scholar

  • To search phrases or keep words together/in order put the phrase in quotation marks

• Look at the titles and abstracts of the retrieved articles from original search – can find new key terms used in the literature, as well as key concepts that are important to your question

• Reading a few relevant studies of any design (experimental study or a traditional literature review on the topic) will also help in identifying any commonly used terms.

• Search-field descriptors:

  • [tiab] = “title/abstract”

  • [au] = “author” 

  • [pt] = “publication type”

  • [tw] = “text word”

• PubMed allows truncation searching = asterisk can substitute for any word’s beginning or ending 

  • Example search for therap* will retrieve articles with the words therapy and therapeutic

LITERATURE REVIEW:

• Purpose – To understand the existing body of knowledge including where excess research exists, where new research is needed, and to provide a solid theoretical foundation for the new study/research question

• Characteristics – Methodologically analyze and synthesize quality literature

• Provide a firm foundation for a research topic & the selection of research methodology

• Demonstrate that the proposed research contributes something new to the overall body of knowledge or advances the research field’s knowledge base.

TIPS:

• Use the tips in the literature search above to gather several related articles 

• Consider the type of data being sought (quantitative, qualitative, economic), the types of studies that report the data (RCTs, cohort studies, ethnographic studies), and the limits or restrictions you’ll apply (publication date or language).

• Start a few small searches as a test of various search terms and combinations of terms. 

• Organize your results based on what information is gathered from each article

SUGGESTED STEP-BY-STEP:

1. Initial search using a few key concepts in PubMed to identify index terms. 

2. Index terms = brief phrases or words to describe paper content/topic

3. Retrieve a few relevant articles to see how they were indexed using the controlled vocabulary. 

4. Go through the citations on chosen relevant articles and open any article that seems to relate to your research topic

5. Use this process for several articles to determine index terms and key terms and gather articles most relevant to your topic.

6. Once all search terms (both free-text words and indexing terms) have been collected and finalized, do a second search across all selected citation databases combining the terms using “OR” and “AND” features 

7. It is recommended not to use all keywords or index terms in the same search but rather try different combinations 

8. Collect and organize articles relevant to the research topic

Resources:

• Aromataris E, Riitano D. Systematic Reviews. American Journal of Nursing. 2014;114(5):49-56.

• Booth A. Unpacking your literature search toolbox: on search styles and tactics. Health Info Libr J. 2008;25(4):313-317.

• Levy Y, J. Ellis T. A Systems Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review in Support of Information Systems Research. Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline. 2006;9(1):181-212.