This literature searching course is delivered over the course of two webinars. To attend this course you need to be available to attend both sessions, booking either one will register you for both webinars.

In Session 1 we will introduce you to concepts such as turning your research question into a search strategy, identifying information sources and using some advanced searching techniques to improve your search. In Session 2 we will build on these skills and discuss issues such as bias in scholarly publishing, introduce you to advanced searching techniques such as text mining and discuss how to evaluate and test your search.

This course has been designed with a mix of demonstrations, presentation, discussion, hands-on activities and individual work. There will be a handout and slides available to support the activities.

By the end of Session 1 you will:

• Gain clarity on the purpose of your search​
• Understand how to turn your research question into a database search using concepts and keywords and MeSH
• ​Know how to use advanced search techniques​
• Know how to identify key information sources for your literature search and differentiate between information sources ​
• Understand how to save a search and set up an alert ​
• Understand how to find full text of articles ​

By the end of Session 2 you will be able to:

• Highlight the potential biases in scholarly information and use strategies to mitigate issues of bias
• Apply text mining techniques to find additional search terms​
• Carry out citation searching to identify additional literature
• ​Evaluate and test your search strategy

Preparatory Work
This session is designed for researchers based in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. You will be required to do some preparatory work based on your own search before both sessions. The pre-work before Session 1 will take approximately 30 minutes, while the pre-work for Session 2 will take approximately 1 hour.