It is important to document your search so that you remember how you searched and so that others can review and reproduce your search.
Document your search in a table where you specify:
You can also make comments in the search table, for example, why you used quotation marks around a phrase or used truncation (searched with an asterisk).
This documentation should be available for review, for example as an appendix to your publication.
Database: Pubmed Date: 2021-09-22
| Search no | Search terms | Results | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block 1 | |||
| 1 | Child OR Child, Preschool OR Adolescent [MeSH] | 3 058 877 | |
| 2 | child* OR adolescen* OR teen* OR youth [Title/Abstract] | 1 671 318 | |
| 3 | #1 OR #2 | 3 560 421 | |
| Block 2 | |||
| 4 | Neoplasms OR Oncology Nursing [MeSH] | 3 397 922 | |
| 5 | neoplas* OR tumor* OR cancer* OR malignanc* OR oncolog* nursing [Title/Abstract] | 3 027 715 | |
| 6 | #4 OR #5 | 4 296 763 | |
| End result |
#3 AND #6 Filter: publication year 2010-2021 |
5 231 | |
Databas: Web of Science Core Collection Datum: 2021-03-29
| Search no | Search terms | Results | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TOPIC: ("city planning" OR "urban planning") | 20 405 | |
| 2 | TOPIC: (citizen* OR resident* OR communit*) | 1 738 109 | |
| 3 | TOPIC: (influenc* OR dialog* OR participat*) | 4 433 259 | |
| End result |
#1 AND #2 AND #3 Filter: publication year 2000-2021 |
1 405 |
After completing your search, save lists from each database with all the references that were included in the results. This can be helpful later if you want to review what was included from the various databases before removing duplicates or starting going through which publications to include or exclude.