Objectives: The aim of this workshop is to introduce clear and logical methods of literature searching to those with little or no experience. At the end of the session participants should understand (1) how to develop an answerable question, (2) have a general understanding of the logical way to effectively search bibliographic databases and (3) how to think about and plan a search in an appropriate way.

Description: Literature searching is widely undertaken for a variety of reasons - for finding specific information, for informing academic work and for systematic reviews. However searching can be a confusing or frustrating task if the basics of the process, or the way bibliographic databases work, are not clearly understood. Time spent understanding these fundamental concepts will improve the experience of searching and produce better results. In this workshop we shall look at plannin
a search, including developing an answerable question, the criteria for selecting appropriate sources, choosing terms and the use of tools such as Boolean operators, truncation etc.
This is NOT a hands-on database searching session. However we shall have the opportunity to concentrate on thinking about, and planning, a search in an appropriate way, and on the logic behind bibliographic database searching.

Target audience: Those new to literature search and interested in developing logical methods for undertaking literature searches.

Style: Training workshop