LibGuides: Literature reviews: Health: Database Searching

mySearch

mySearch is an interface which allows you to search across a range of library resources simultaneously, including books, e-books, journal articles and databases

Look at the 'check your progress' box at the bottom of this page to make sure you have completed all the steps for this stage of your search

Searching for your literature

You can search many databases at once using our discovery tool mySearch. You need to know which databases you have used by referring to the e-resources filter on the left hand of the mySearch results page.

You can choose to go further and run your search separately in different databases. There are resources on this page giving information on particular databases and how to use them.

Main databases for health

The following databases are fundamental for any health-related literature search. Remember that mySearch is not a database, but a tool that allows you to search different databases at the same time.

CINAHL - Main database for nursing and allied health professions. You might need to explore CINAHL headings to get a more focused set of results.
Medline - Main database for clinical literature, especially useful for very specific clinical queries. You might need to explore MeSH headings to get a more focused set of results.
PsychInfo - Main database for mental health issues and psychiatry.
SocIndex - Main database for social issues; this could be useful if you are looking at sociological aspects of health care (e.g. patients from different backgrounds, influence of poverty in health conditions...etc).

Additional databases

Scopus - Large multidisciplinary citation database indexing 15,000 peer-reviewed journals
Web of Science - Large multidisciplinary citation database - the Core Collection covers 21,894 journals + books and conference proceedings
SportDISCUS - This database contains information on: sports medicine, exercise physiology, biomechanics, psychology, training technique, coaching, physical education, physical fitness, active living, recreation, history, facilities and equipment.
PubMed - it includes Medline and other health collections, not everything is free to access.
The Cochrane library contains systematic reviews (systematic literature reviews) and primary research (clinical trials and other studies).
NICE evidence - it includes primary and secondary evidence used to put together national guidelines.
AMED - Allied and Complementary Medicine - available with your Open Athens account.
EMCARE - Nursing and Allied Health Database - available with your Open Athens account.
HMIC - Health Management Information Consortium - useful for queries about management of healthcare - available with your Open Athens account.
EMBASE - Excerpta Medica Database - available with you Open Athens account.

Check your progress

Stage of your search	Things to remember
Your first attempt at the search to see if it works.	Run your search, and add any new relevant search terms that you find add to the appropriate search line of the database and also update your Search Planning Form If you do find additional terms to add, remember you need to re-search your databases to update the results to include the new term Test to make sure your search terms are locating relevant articles Add truncation * and "phrase searching" where necessary
Have you decided on the limits to apply?	Apply peer-reviewed, English language, date range, etc. (think about the justification for the date range you have chosen)
Have you checked your topic for literature reviews and/or systematic reviews?	If a literature or systematic review has been done on your topic, you need to discuss this with your academic. Systematic reviews and literature reviews are not primary research

Stage of your search

Things to remember

Your first attempt at the search to see if it works.

Run your search, and add any new relevant search terms that you find add to the appropriate search line of the database and also update your Search Planning Form
If you do find additional terms to add, remember you need to re-search your databases to update the results to include the new term
Test to make sure your search terms are locating relevant articles
Add truncation * and "phrase searching" where necessary

Have you decided on the limits to apply?

Apply peer-reviewed, English language, date range, etc. (think about the justification for the date range you have chosen)

Have you checked your topic for literature reviews and/or systematic reviews?

If a literature or systematic review has been done on your topic, you need to discuss this with your academic. Systematic reviews and literature reviews are not primary research