Psychology: DClin systematic literature searching: Home

The distinguishing features of systematic searching is that it is protocol driven, i.e. it has:

• a clearly defined question that needs answering,
• an exhaustive search strategy,
• clear inclusion and exclusion criteria,
• explicit and transparent methods that are accountable, replicable and updateable,  
• and a clear logical rationale that is reported to the reader.

This tutorial will guide you through the steps required to systematically search for literature for your service-related project and thesis.

It will help you:

• focus your question,
• identify search terms,
• define your inclusion / exclusion criteria,
• identify appropriate databases to search,
• consider grey literature sources,
• and manage your search results.