This guide focusses on the basic principles for performing a literature search using one of the main health databases such as Medline, Embase or Cinahl.
At SGUL each of these databases can be searched using a specialist search tool. For example, for Medline and Embase, these databases are searched using the Ovid search tool, and for Cinahl it is the EBSCOhost search tool. NHS staff have a bespoke search tool Healthcare databases advanced search (HDAS requires an OpenAthens account). This type of search can be broken down into the following stages:
Each stage is covered separately in more detail in the relevant tabs above.
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