Library Skills
Documenting your search results
Depending on the type of review you are conducting, it may be necessary to document both the search process that you have undertaken and record the results of your searches. Recording and demonstrating your search strategy or methodology is useful for:
- Providing clarity to the reader about your research methods
- Justifying your research process
- Helping you not to repeat work you’ve already done
Your documented search should allow for as much detail as required by your project, and to allow your search process and results to be reproduced for verification by your reader. It may include:
- The names and hosting platforms of the databases you searched (e.g. Medline (EBSCOhost), PsycINFO (Proquest) etc).
- Any limits applied to your searches (e.g. date ranges, languages, types of publications)
- You may also need to include details of any other sources you used, such as grey literature (e.g. websites and hand searching etc).
- Any organisations or individuals you contacted directly to source your evidence.
Some databases will contain a search builder or advanced searching features, with the ability to save or export the search terms and search results. It is often a good idea to include a broad description of your search and keywords in the main body of your text, and attach the exported search strategy/ies as appendices.
Examples of documenting searches
Search records (the documented search) can be shown in various different formats, depending on your research and the requirements of your project. Your funding body, publisher or supervisor may have a preferred format; you may wish to consult with the appropriate person before designing your own method.
This tabbed table provides exemplars of search records, but a combination of different formats might be required (depending on your approach).
PRISMA
You can demonstrate your search and the process of how you arrived at the final papers to be included (as well as indicating excluded papers) in your review by using a PRISMA flowchart template (make sure you use the correct flow chart for your review). PRISMA stands for the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
The PRISMA website contains further information about PRISMA, including a flowchart and checklist.
This example has been created using the PRISMA flowchart template.
| Searches | Database and results | ||
| CINAHL (EBSCOhost) | Medline (EBSCOHost) | SCOPUS | |
| ("end of life" OR "palliative care" OR "cancer care" OR terminal OR dying OR death) AND ("Care home" OR "residential care" OR "nursing home" OR "nursing care" OR "domestic care" OR hospice) AND ("pressure ulcer" OR bedsore OR "decubitus ulcer" OR "pressure sore" OR "pressure wound") | 131 | 110 | 214 |
| ("end of life" OR "palliative care" OR "cancer care" OR terminal OR dying OR death) AND ("Care home" OR "residential care" OR "nursing home" OR "nursing care" OR "domestic care" OR hospice) AND ("pressure ulcer" OR bedsore OR "decubitus ulcer" OR "pressure sore" OR "pressure wound") AND (qualitative OR mixed methods OR observation OR interviews OR ethnography) | 13 | 7 | 8 |
| ("end of life" OR "palliative care" OR "cancer care" OR terminal OR dying OR death) AND ("Care home" OR "residential care" OR "nursing home" OR "nursing care" OR "domestic care" OR hospice) AND ("pressure ulcer" OR bedsore OR "decubitus ulcer" OR "pressure sore" OR "pressure wound") AND (quantitative OR questionnaire OR survey OR statistic*) | 54 | 41 | 76 |
| Date of search | Searches | Filter used | Database | No. of records | Excluded by abstract | Excluded by full text | Results retained |
| 18/04/20 | ("end of life" OR "palliative care" OR "cancer care" OR terminal OR dying OR death) AND ("Care home" OR "residential care" OR "nursing home" OR "nursing care" OR "domestic care" OR hospice) AND ("pressure ulcer" OR bedsore OR "decubitus ulcer" OR "pressure sore" OR "pressure wound") | 2010-2020; English; Journal Articles | CINAHL EBSCO | 130 | 20 | 100 | 10 |
| 21/04/20 | ("end of life" OR "palliative care" OR "cancer care" OR terminal OR dying OR death) AND ("Care home" OR "residential care" OR "nursing home" OR "nursing care" OR "domestic care" OR hospice) AND ("pressure ulcer" OR bedsore OR "decubitus ulcer" OR "pressure sore" OR "pressure wound") AND (qualitative OR mixed methods OR observation OR interviews OR ethnography) | 2010-2020; English; Journal Articles | Medline EBSCO | 96 | 87 | 7 | 2 |
| 21/04/20 | ("end of life" OR "palliative care" OR "cancer care" OR terminal OR dying OR death) AND ("Care home" OR "residential care" OR "nursing home" OR "nursing care" OR "domestic care" OR hospice) AND ("pressure ulcer" OR bedsore OR "decubitus ulcer" OR "pressure sore" OR "pressure wound") AND (quantitative OR questionnaire OR survey OR statistic*) | 2010-2020; English; Journal Articles | SCOPUS | 54 | 37 | 12 | 5 |
CINAHL (EBSCOhost)
S1 (MH "Aspirin")
S2 TX aspirin
S3 TX "acetylsalicylic acid"
S4 S1 or S2 or S3
S5 TX dementia*
S6 (MH "Dementia, Vascular") OR (MH "Dementia, Multi-Infarct")
S7 TX VaD
S8 TX vascular cognitive impairment*
S9 TX VCI
S10 S5 or S6 or S7 or S8 or S9
S11 S4 and S10
S12 EM 2008
S13 EM 2009
S14 EM 2010
S15 EM 2011
S16 S12 or S13 or S14 or S15
S17 S11 and S16
25 results retrieved
The complete example can be found in the appendix of Rand, G. and Orrell, M. (2000) 'Aspirin for vascular dementia.' Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 4:CD001296, pp. 1-13. [Online] [Accessed on 8th April 2020] https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001296/epdf/full
SCOPUS
Searched 18 July 2012
1,147 records retrieved
("end of life" OR "palliative care" OR "cancer care" OR terminal OR dying OR death) AND ("Care home" OR "residential care" OR "nursing home" OR "nursing care" OR "domestic care" OR hospice) AND ("pressure ulcer" OR bedsore OR "decubitus ulcer" OR "pressure sore" OR "pressure wound") AND (qualitative OR mixed methods OR observation OR interviews OR ethnography)
12 relevant results