Objectives:
The aim of this workshop is to provide review authors, and others who may be searching for studies in the course of their review work , with guidance and experience of best practice in this area of the review process. Questions to be considered will include;
1. Where do I look for studies? Recommended resources essential to the search process.
2. How do I search efficiently? Developing a structured strategy.
3. What do I do with my results? Managing and documenting your results.
Description:
This session, while open to all interested parties, is primarily aimed at review authors and will focus on the policy for searching for studies as described in the new Cochrane Reviewers Handbook.
Studies are the key components of Cochrane reviews, not references, but searching for references as reports of studies remains the most efficient method of identifying studies. The workshop will highlight each area addressed in searching for references in the new Cochrane Reviewers Handbook to explore each stage of the searching process. Topics will include;
Going beyond MEDLINE - comparison and identification of essential resources, including bibliographic databases, trial registers and the process of handsearching.
Strategy development - which best suits your review? - specificity v. precision, Boolean operators and controlled vocabulary.
Organisation - the use of bibliographic software to organise and manage results
Reproducibility - how to best document and report your search process.
The facilitators for this workshop are all members of the Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Group and will share their experience and expertise with the participants.
The session will include a brief presentation, practical strategy design and discussion.