This document provides guidance on conducting a literature search. It discusses what literature is, the purpose of literature searches, and different types of literature sources. It also covers how to effectively search literature using Boolean logic operators like AND, OR, and NOT. Specific strategies like truncation and wildcards are explained. Finally, popular databases and search engines for conducting literature searches are listed.

1. LITERATURE SEARCH:
Dr.Mathew Joseph
Junior Resdent
Department Of Anatomy
AIIMS Rishikesh

5. HOW TO SEARCH LITERATURE
• ?
• ?
• ?

6. DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR TODAY:
• What is Literature?
• Want is Literature search?
• What are the Types of Literature?
• What is the Purpose of Literature search?
• what is a Boolean search?
• How to search a Literature?

7. WHAT IS A LITERATURE?
A collection of all the
scholarly writings on a
topic.

8. WHAT IS LITERATURE SEARCH?
• Methodical search for the literatures published on a topic.
• An effective search of the literature can be done quickly, but demands a well
organized and systematic approach.
• Important of keep records of the searches made and the information found.

9. PURPOSE:
• Helps to broaden our knowledge on a topic .
• Helps us to be updated.
• Reviews existing opinions and theories.
• Identify current research findings on a topic.
• Identify potential research methods or models you could use in
various studies.
• Comparison of your studies with that of others.

10. TYPES OF LITERATURE:
• 1. Research Journals:
. Original Research Articles.
. Commentaries/Replies
. Reviews
2. Standard Books.

11. 3. Online Reports:
Census.
Research Institutes.
Government Organizations.
4.Online :

12. BOOLEAN SEARCHING:
• Boolean searching is based on a system of symbolic logic which was developed by
Mr. George Boole , a 19th century English Mathematician.
• When performing a Boolean search, one should first choose keyword that’s best
describes ones topic.
• Then you must connect the key words using operators.
AND OR NOT

13. “AND”
• AND links words together in a way to NARROW our search.
• It tells the service provider that we require the data that contains all the keywords
given by us.
Smoking AND Lung Cancer.
The resulting article should contain BOTH smoking and lung cancer in it.

14. AND

15. “OR”
• OR broadens / widens your search results
• Smoking , Lung Cancer and BOTH.

16. “NOT”
• NOT operator helps us in just eliminating/avoiding some words from our search.
• Smoking NOT Cancer, Cancer NOT Smoking.
B
NOT
A
A
NOT
B

17. LET’S
At some other search strategies
* Truncation
? Wildcards
Truncations and Wildcards are symbols such as * or ? which are used in
some computing commands or searches in order to represent any character
or range of characters.

18. • Truncation *
• The truncation symbol (*) serves as a substitute for any string of zero or more
characters.
• Therapy , Therapeutics, Therapies
• We could combine them with OR , (Therapy OR Therapeutics OR Therapies)
• Instead we could use simple THERAP*
• Ex: DIARRH*
DIARRHEA,DIARRHOEA,DIARRHOEAL,DIARRHEAL etc.

20. By working logically through some steps, we could
make our search focused, systematic and effective.
P

22. Which databases or search engines should I use?
PubMed/Medline
Biomedicine and Clinical
Medicine
Embase
Biomedicine and Clinical
Medicine
Google Scholar
Books and Journals
Popline
Reproductive and
Sexual Health
Global Health
International Public
Health
Web of Science
All academic disciplines,
good for social sciences
CINAHL
Nursing and allied
health.
NLM
National Library of
Medicine

24. How to use Google Scholar?

27. How to search in PubMed?