Research Guides: Evidence Synthesis in the Social Sciences: Write a search strategy

Literature searching for evidence synthesis

Literature searching for evidence synthesis is different than doing a general literature search, since it needs to be systematic, and the researcher needs to be very transparent with the search process in order for the research to be reproducible. Bramer, et. al., 2018* provide suggested steps for a systematic literature search:

Determine a clear and focused question
Describe the articles that can answer the question
Decide which key concepts address the different elements of the question
Decide which elements should be used for the best results
Choose an appropriate database and interface to start with
Document the search process in a text document
Identify appropriate index terms in the thesaurus of the first database
Identify synonyms in the thesaurus
Add variations in search terms
Use database-appropriate syntax, with parentheses, Boolean operators, and field codes
Optimize the search
Evaluate the initial results
Check for errors
Translate to other databases
Test and reiterate

In addition to these suggestions from Bramer, et. al. the Libraries often recommends that researchers have 'gold standard' articles (articles that are definitely relevant to your search) so you can check that your searches in each database are including all of these articles in your search results (otherwise your search is too narrow). Researchers might also want to consider US/UK spellings, plurals/singulars for search terms, abbreviations, etc.

*Bramer WM, de Jonge GB, Rethlefsen ML, Mast F, Kleijnen J. A systematic approach to searching: an efficient and complete method to develop literature searches. J Med Libr Assoc. 2018 Oct;106(4):531-541. doi: 10.5195/jmla.2018.283. Epub 2018 Oct 1. PMID: 30271302; PMCID: PMC6148622.

Keywords and Index Terms

It's important to remember that keywords and index terms are not the same things, and you'll want to consider both in your search strategy. You'll also want to remember that index terms are particular to a specific database.

Keywords are often helpful in broadening your search and can be searched for in everything from article titles and abstracts to full text searching.

Index terms (or subject terms) are more likely to focus your search as they are particular terms applied to an article by an indexer.

Search strategy videos from Yale Medical Library

Resources on developing search strategies

Covidence - How to write a search strategy for your systematic review
A blog post that simplifies the process of how to write a search strategy for a systematic review.

Create a basic logic grid
A document from The University of Adelaide walking a researcher through planning a search and creating a basic logic grid.

PRESS Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies
It might be a good idea to ask someone to peer review your search strategy; this resource provides advice and a checklist to facilitate such a process.