Systematic Literature Searching Template – Example

(All text in grey italics are examples to be replaced with your own work)

1. Defining the search question and generating key concepts and keywords

1.1  Research topic:

“The impact of critical thinking on the academic performance of university students.”

1.2  Keywords and key concepts generated using a concept map, including; subject headings (if relevant), acronyms, synonyms, truncation and wildcards as appropriate.

Search 1 Concept:
Critical thinking / Search 2 Concept:
Academic performance / Search 3 Concept:
University Student
Keywords/phrases:
“Critical think*”
Criticality
“Critical read*”
“Critical writ*” / Keywords/phrases:
“Academic performance”
“Academic achievement”
“Academic success”
“Academic failure”
“Educational attainment”
“Scholastic performance” / Keywords/phrases:
“University student*”
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
“College student*”
“Higher education”

2. The key databases

Considerations:

·  The subject coverage of the database.

·  The date range of articles indexed in the database.

·  The search options, e.g. does it have a subject heading index or allow for combining Boolean sets?

·  The reputation of the database.

Database / Coverage and Size / Rationale
Academic Search Complete / Varies according to the journal – some go back as far as 1887. Over 5,500 journals including more than 4,600 peer reviewed titles, plus over 10,000 publications including monographs, reports and conference proceedings. / Chosen for multidisciplinary coverage
Good for UK practice
Education Source / Varies according to the journal - earliest title = 1929. Full text for 1,800+ titles. Full text for 550+ books and monographs. / Chosen for education specific content

3. The search strategy

3.1 Overview of search strategy

I. Three separate identical searches across two databases

II. Combine the results from the above

III. De-duplicate same items found in multiple databases

IV. Sift on abstract reading

V. Sift on reading to identify the texts that will be fully reviewed for the research

VI. Add any seminal works discovered through handsearching key journals, Web of Science and other sources (monographs, conference proceedings, grey literature, etc)

VII. Save all bibliographical details for references (Refworks?)

VIII. Read all texts and write up literature review

3.2 Inclusion/exclusion criteria.

Think of any Search Restrictions – anything related to your topic that you wish to exclude.

Be aware that generic limits (language, publication date etc.) may introduce bias, avoid using these limits if you need a systematic search.

·  Worldwide

·  Published within last 10 years

·  Peer-reviewed scholarly articles

3.3 Searches in Academic Search Complete using BOOLEAN (AND & OR)

Date of Search:

Concept # / Search # / Search terms / Results
1 / S1 / “Critical think*” / 10,865
1 / S2 / Criticality / 5,150
1 / S3 / “Critical read*” / 4,738
1 / S4 / “Critical writ*” / 413
Set 1 / S5 / S1 OR S2 OR S3 OR S4 / 21,019
2 / S6 / “Academic performance” / 8,485
2 / S7 / “Academic achievement” / 33,801
2 / S8 / “Academic success” / 3,059
2 / S9 / “Academic failure” / 1,157
2 / S10 / “Educational attainment” / 15,784
2 / S11 / “Scholastic performance” / 156
Set 2 / S12 / S6 OR S7 OR S8 OR S9 OR S10 OR S11 / 56,225
3 / S13 / “University student*” / 46,944
3 / S14 / Undergraduate / 58,861
3 / S15 / Postgraduate / 43,800
3 / S16 / “College student*” / 89,491
3 / S17 / “Higher education” / 298,539
Set 3 / S18 / S13 OR S14 OR S15 OR S16 OR S17 / 445,699
Final set / S19 / S5 AND S12 AND S18 / 113
S20 / Final set limited to last 10 years / 95

3.4 Searches in Education Source using BOOLEAN (AND & OR)

Date of search:

Concept # / Search # / Search terms / Results
1 / S1 / “Critical think*” / 14,868
1 / S2 / Criticality / 372
1 / S3 / “Critical read*” / 9,441
1 / S4 / “Critical writ*” / 156
Set 1 / S5 / S1 OR S2 OR S3 OR S4 / 24,551
2 / S6 / “Academic performance” / 9,964
2 / S7 / “Academic achievement” / 65,243
2 / S8 / “Academic success” / 4,273
2 / S9 / “Academic failure” / 2,098
2 / S10 / “Educational attainment” / 7,853
2 / S11 / “Scholastic performance” / 140
Set 2 / S12 / S6 OR S7 OR S8 OR S9 OR S10 OR S11 / 80,996
3 / S13 / “University student*” / 62,875
3 / S14 / Undergraduate / 57,737
3 / S15 / Postgraduate / 16,696
3 / S16 / “College student*” / 131,555
3 / S17 / “Higher education” / 451,482
Set 3 / S18 / S13 OR S14 OR S15 OR S16 OR S17 / 566,651
Final set / S19 / S5 AND S12 AND S18 / 243
S20 / Final set limited to last 10 years / 164

3.5 Searches cross-referenced from all databases

Database Searches and number of Results
Academic Search Complete
Date of Search: / Education Source
Date of Search:
Search Concept Set 1: combined with OR / 21,019 / 24,551
Search Concept Set 2: combined with OR / 56,225 / 80,996
Search Concept Set 3 combined with OR / 445,699 / 566,651
Search Sets Combined with AND and limited to 10 years / 95 / 164
Total unfiltered results / Enter number
Results after De-duplication / Enter number
Relevant after abstract sift / Enter number
Relevant after reading / Enter number

3.6 Handsearching

Identify key journals for handsearching (ask your supervisor)

Add articles found to your reference list (Refworks)

You could use the Journal Citation Report in Web of Science which ranks the journals by highest Journal Impact Factor (JIF). In the ‘Education’ category these are the top two journals with the highest JIF that are relevant to higher education:

Full Journal Title / JIF (if relevant) / #relevant articles
Educational Psychologist / 5.688 / Enter number
Review of Educational Research / 5.235 / Enter number
Etc…

3.7 List the relevant studies found via handsearching, snowballing and from consulting wider information sources

# / Resource/study type / Reference / Where found / Date found / # citations since publication date (if relevant)
1. / Article / Tupnisky, R.H., Renaud, R.D., Daniels, L.M., Haynes, T.L. & Perry, R.P. (2008) 'The interrelation of first-year college students' critical thinking disposition, perceived academic control, and academic achievement', Research in Higher Education, 49 (6), pp.513-530. / Web of Science / 22 Feb 2017 / 23 citations in Web of Science.
106 citations in Google Scholar.
2. / Conference proceeding / Etc…
3. / Report
4. / monograph
5. / Etc…

3.8 Combine results from the database searching and from handsearching, snowballing and from consulting wider information sources (suggest that RefWorks or other reference management system is used)

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James Stephens, Library and Student Services, February 2017