Module 2: Formulating a Research Question and Searching for Sources
Module 2: Formulating a Research Question and Searching for Sources
Select Resources and Search
When conducting a review, it is important to search multiple resources. Just searching one subject database will not ensure you have found all the essential sources on your topic.
For systematic reviews, searching multiple databases is essential for reducing in your results. Only using one database like PubMed means you have ignored relevant studies found in other databases like Embase.
Subject Databases
Subject databases are accessible through your academic library and contain published material belonging or pertaining to a specific discipline or multiple disciplines, e.g.,health sciences, business, social work, or law. Many subject databases are hosted on the platforms EBSCO and Proquest for example. These search platforms allow users to search and retrieve content, and may look and work similarly to each other. The type of material in different subject databases depends on the subject, but most will include academic peer-reviewed articles, newspaper and magazine articles, and reports.
To find a subject specific database, go to your library’s website and look for a research guide for your discipline. This guide will include a list of article databases for your discipline, and the descriptions below them will help you select among them. Alternatively, look for a list of databases by subject on your library website, and choose an article database which covers your subject.
If you have questions about which database to choose, contact your librarian for help.
Key Takeaways
There are also free options if you are not affiliated with an academic library. Public libraries have some databases you may search with a library card. Also, there are some free databases online such as PubMed (health sciences subjects), DOAJ (general subjects), Dimensions (general subjects) and Google Scholar (general subjects). Further free (Open Access) resources are listed on this Open Access Educational Resources Guide.
How to Search in Subject Databases
In general, all subject databases will have a basic search box and an advanced search box. We recommend you use the advanced search box, as it provides more options to optimize your search. The advanced search box will often allow you to choose where you want your keywords to appear within the resource (e.g., in the title or the abstract and body or anywhere). An example of an advanced search box is found in Figure 2.7 below.
Limiters are found in all subject databases and they allow you to limit your search by date, type of source, language, and in some databases by population and methodology (see Figure 2.8 below). This is particularly useful if you are conducting a systematic review, as the limiters will help with your exclusion criteria.
Once you have chosen your subject databases, take a note if they are owned by a particular platform (i.e., EBSCO, ProQuest, Ovid, etc). Each of these platforms will have tutorials on how to