Subject Guides: Reviewing the literature: Library support

For support and advice on conducting your review, Masters by Research students, HDR candidate, professional staff and academics can book an appointment with the Liaison Librarian (Reviews protocols). Masters by coursework students are encouraged to book an appointment with your campus liaison librarian. Undergraduates are encouraged to use the library chat service.

Recordings of library webinars related to reviews are below. You may need to log in with your Fedaration details to access them.

Reporting the search (recorded 24 September 2024)
Guidance for scoping, systematic and other review types (recorded 19 April 2024)
What type of review is right for you? (recorded 24 May 2024)
Understanding the PRISMA flowchart (recorded 5 April 2024)
Reviewing the literature: Choosing a framework and developing concepts
Search frameworks help structure searches for reviews and are one of the first steps in developing the search strategy.
Reviewing the literature: Using seed papers to develop more keywords
Known articles (or seed papers) that are relevant to the review topic are a useful way of finding additional keywords.
Reviewing the literature: Finding subject headings and more keywords
Subject headings are important to include in a search strategy for a review to make sure it is a comprehensive search, and they can also identify additional key words.
Reviewing the literature: Combining terms and using advanced operators
Search terms need to be combined correctly to give relevant and comprehensive results, and advanced search operators will also be useful.
Reviewing the literature: Searching a key database to test the search strategy
When the search strategy has been developed, it needs to be tested on a key database to ensure it works.
Reviewing the literature: Evaluating the search strategy
The search strategy should be evaluated before conducting the final search to make sure it is comprehensive and gives relevant results.
Reviewing the literature: Translating the search for other databases
Each database uses different subject headings, field codes and advanced operators. These will need to be altered in the search strategy for it to work correctly in each database.
Reviewing the literature: Finding grey literature
It is increasingly common to include grey literature in reviews, but it can be challenging to find.
Reviewing the literature: Citation tracking of included articles
When the screening of the results has been completed, and the included articles are selected, their references and newer articles that cite them need to be identified to determine if they meet the inclusion criteria.
Reviewing the literature: Reporting the search using PRISMA
The search needs to be described in your review to ensure it is replicable and it makes up the beginning of the flow chart that documents the search and screening process.
Using EndNote for reviews (recorded 13 August 2024)