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Literature Searching

Other searching methods enhance the rigour and comprehensiveness of evidence collection beyond traditional database searches. These approaches enable the identification of influential studies, policy documents and non-indexed materials, thereby mitigating publication bias and ensuring a more complete representation of available research.

Why is searching outside of databases important?

  • Not all research is presented as a journal article
  • Not every journal is indexed in a database
  • Terminology may change over time.

Step-by-step worksheet

Use the Library's worksheet to write your search strategy. The appendix includes real-world examples.

Worksheet - Literature Searching: Step by step

Grey literature searching

Grey literature refers to materials and research outputs not formally published or distributed by commercial publishers. These documents are typically produced by organisations such as governments, academic institutions, or nonprofits and can include a variety of formats. For more information and instructions see our Grey Literature Guide.

Grey Literature Guide

Citation searching involves examining the references cited by key publications and identifying subsequent works that cite them, creating a network of related research. This technique facilitates the discovery of influential studies and emerging scholarship that may not be immediately visible through standard search strategies.

Why is citation searching important?

  • Citation searching targets relevant information for the sources
  • Searches for seminal works 
  • Links to the latest research

How to citation search

To citation search

  1. Identify key articles. From background searching or from a database search.
  2. Examine the works cited by the article to find earlier research that informed that key article.
  3. Use tools like Google Scholar or citation chaser to find newer articles that have cited your key article.
  4. Follow citations forward and backward to uncover related studies and build a list of relevant articles

Citation mapping tools:

Use the citation mapping tools decision matrix to choose the tool that sits your needs. The Library has graded these tools based on ease of use and functionality. 

Recommended Resources:

Watch the recording

AI search tools use machine learning or large language models (LLMs) to discover articles and generate summaries. They use a variety of different freely available sources to provide an answer. These sources can vary from unverified blogs to published medical literature. It's important to confim that citations and summaries generated from AI search tools are accurate

What is important to remember when using AI searching tools?

  • Databases may be discipline specific with information targeted to your area 
  • Niche journals that are not included in the bigger databases may be included in others
  • No single database includes all all research, relevant studies may not be included

AI Search Tools

Use the AI search tools to choose the AI search tool tool that suits your needs. The library has graded these tools based on ease of use, functionality, and reliability of the sources. Click the image to view a full-size PDF version.

Recommended Resources

AI-powered literature searching webinar