Literature Reviews and Searching

An extensive guide that provides tools and methods to locate grey literature specifically related to health and medical research.

Self-paced module with the learning outcomes:

1. Define what grey literature is (and is not).

2. Identify relevant sources of grey literature.

3. Search appropriate grey literature sources for your research question.

Grey literature refers to information that is not published through traditional commercial or academic publishing channels. It encompasses a broad range of material and is not well represented in indexing sources. Explore the advantages and limitations of using grey literature in your research, and read guidance on what should be included.

Connecting you with peer-reviewed information for allied health professionals.

Search according to your profession (allied health), your focus, further refinements e.g. age, ethnicity, and keywords.

Dedicated collections of relevant palliative care evidence from trusted sources. Regularly updated and organised to help busy clinicians efficiently access the evidence needed to guide decisions and enhance patient care.

Includes: Systematic review collection, latest Australian research, Palliative care guidelines, and Grey literature database.

Searching for Evidence feature available if searching for specific evidence in relation to your question.

A literature review is a vital component of any research paper, thesis, or dissertation. It acts as the foundation for your study, demonstrating your understanding of existing research and highlighting the need for your research work. Writing an effective literature review can be daunting, but breaking it down into clear steps can make the process effortless and straightforward. This guide will walk you through how to write a literature review step-by-step.

Literature reviews come in many forms. They can be part of a research paper, for example as part of the Introduction section. They can be one chapter of a doctoral dissertation. Literature reviews can also “stand alone” as separate articles by themselves.

Explore 6 tips on how to write your literature review, plus access multiple resources.

This report outlines the Indigenous Referencing Guidance for Indigenous Knowledges project undertaken by Indigenous Archives Collective (IAC) members as a research and consultation partner with CAVAL.

The report includes a preamble that sets the context of the work in both Australian academic libraries and within library and information studies nationally and internationally. It considers the intersections of library practices with Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. While the work is intended for use in CAVAL libraries and to support the acknowledgement of First Nations people in Victoria, it has broader application for the acknowledgement of Indigenous Knowledges nationally.

This webinar is a “Literature 101” providing a great explanation about the purpose and processes involved in a literature review. It explores methods of searching for the source; how to dig through extensive information; and how to put it together – from notes to narrative.

A literature review explores and evaluates the literature on a specific topic or question. It synthesises the contributions of the different authors, often to identify areas that need further exploration. The point of a stanalone literature review is to demonstrate that you have read widely in your field and you understand the main arguments. As part of a thesis or reserach paper, the literature review defines your project by establishing how your work will extend or differ from previous work and what contribution it will make.

What is a literature review? Western Alliance provides information on resources and contacts in the Western region, developing a question to guide the literature search, searching the literature, reading and evaluating papers, summarising the useful and relvant papers, further resources.

This introductory program was created by JSTOR to help you get familiar with basic research concepts needed for success in research. The course contains three modules, each made up of three short lessons and three sets of practice quizzes. The topics covered are subjects that will help you prepare for college-level research. Each module ends with an assessment to test your knowledge.

Take your literature searching skills to the next level with this online interactive course. With real interactive literature search examples, you’ll learn how to conduct a literature search with a systematic approach and refine your search for the best results. You’ll gain the competence to perform a comprehensive literature search, understand the value of citation analysis, and stay up to date with the latest research. We’ll also cover the role of reference management software in research writing.

Click on ‘Learn more’, then on the RET Program website, click on ‘log in’, sign up as a new member with your details. When you come to ‘Institution’ in the drop-down box, click on ‘@research’, you will then be asked to click on your health service in the drop-down box. In the next box where it asks for the @Research Access Code, enter ‘atResearch’. Registering this way will provide free access to the RET Program courses, courtesy of @research.

This guide provides information to understand the purpose of a Literature review, search for information, analysis; synthesis of the literature and writing the review.

This guide covers: Identifying key terms and concepts, Combining search terms and concepts, Advanced search operators – truncation and wildcards, Phrase searching, Subject headings, Creating a gold set.

Links to topics: Concept and Planning, Searching and Literature Review, Data Collection and Analysis, Writing and Publishing, Promotion and Impact.

Assoc Prof Andrea Tricco explains how to conduct and report your scoping review using the latest guidance. Includes scoping review steps, how to develop a protocol, inclusion criteria, search stragey, sources of evidence selction, data extraction, analysis of evidence, presentation of results, the PRISMA-ScR checklist.

Grey Literature is best described by the type of document it embodies. In order to better enable the net-user to identify grey literature, explore this resource for the list of document types drafted.

Grey literature refers to material produced in non-traditional ways, outside the control of commercial publishers. Grey literature can be created at all levels of government, academia, and industry, in print or electronic formats (Schopfel, 2010). Types of grey literature include, but are not limited to, theses, conference proceedings, government and industry reports, and blogs.