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Struggling with Literature Searching? Your Health Library can help

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 Whether you’re an undergraduate tackling your first systematic search, a postgraduate refining a dissertation, or a researcher navigating complex evidence resources, literature searching can feel overwhelming. Choosing the right databases, building effective search strategies and documenting your methods all take time and specialist knowledge.

The Health Library is here to help students and researchers find the evidence they need, faster and with confidence.

Our online information skills etutorials are designed to help you build strong searching skills, whenever and wherever you need them. Our bite‑sized tutorials guide you through:

  • Turning your topic into a clear search question
  • Choosing the right health databases
  • Using keywords, subject headings, and boolean operators
  • Searching effectively for articles, reviews and research evidence
  • Saving, refining, and documenting your searches

Perfect for students at all levels and busy researchers, the etutorials are flexible, practical, and easy to follow—whether you’re getting started or brushing up on advanced techniques.

Search smarter, not harder

Explore the Health Library etutorials and take control of your literature searching today. Start with our tutorial Introduction to Literature Searching and learn about the steps you follow to create a search strategy. Just need a refresher? Then try our Literature Searching Flashcards for a quick review.

2 nurses working together and list of advantages of the literature searching etutorial

Support for Students at Every Level

You don’t need to be an experienced researcher to benefit from library support. We regularly help:

  • Undergraduates building confidence with academic databases
  • Postgraduate students preparing dissertation or thesis searches
  • NHS staff developing evidence searching skills

More help

Your research deserves a strong evidence base—and we’re here to help you build it. For more help check all our training opportunities or contact the Health Library.

 

This blog post was created in collaboration with MS Copilot.

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