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Image: The History of Private Search Engines by Christian Stewart |
Begin your search journey with a librarian! Librarians can recommend databases and other sources to search for a systematic review. Check your home institution's database list for all of the available sources across all disciplines. To do this, go to "Find Articles" on the Priddy Library homepage. Choose your university in the drop-down menu and then click on "GO." Librarians can also help with designing complex searches using the specialized syntax of individual databases. Consult your subject librarian, if you have questions. |
Search more databases to limit bias! Why?
“The conduct of the search for and selection of evidence may have serious implications for patients’ and clinicians’ decisions. A systematic review might lead to the wrong conclusions and, ultimately, the wrong clinical recommendations.”
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Searching for existing systematic reviews on a topic related to your own research question can be a good place to start. These systematic reviews may provide a model for approaching your own review of the literature, including recommended search strategies and resources. The following are links to online libraries of systematic reviews and evidence documents for health and other areas of policy-making. |
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Appraising Systematic Reviews Just because a review has been published as a "systematic review", it does not imply that the review was rigorous, reproducible or exhaustive. There are a number of criteria by which you can assess the quality of a systematic review. The following article summarizes 44 critical appraisal tools. Crowe, M., & Sheppard, L. (2011). A review of critical appraisal tools show they lack rigor: Alternative tool structure is proposed. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 64(1), 79–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.02.008 |
Below are some common tools used for this purpose.
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Database Syntax Every database works differently. Consult with a librarian to 'translate' searches between databases. The link below provides some guidance for how to search using different platforms.
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Accessing Databases
You can access library databases from your home institution to find articles both on campus and off campus.
Students from any university can access databases subscribed to by the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) Libraries while on campus at USG.
To access databases, go the Priddy Library homepage and go to the section that says, "Find Articles." Select "USG" when on campus to access UMCP databases. To access databases from your home institution, select it in the drop-down menu and click GO.
How many and which databases to choose from?
There are systematic reviews in many subject areas such as education, social work, and even engineering where different databases are appropriate and very different conclusions would be reached. Some research is suggested below:
Suggested databases for different subject areas
Check the institution names and icons next to the database names to determine, which ones you can access both on campus and off campus. For those with a UMCP icon, they can be accessed by faculty, students and staff from any institution while on campus.
Criminology
Education
Kinesiology
Social Work
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This tab provides databases around the globe to find systematic reviews and other scholarly literature from national and international sources. |
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What is grey literature?Gray literature is defined by the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions as "...literature that is not formally published in sources such as books or journal articles." This can include information such as government reports, conference proceedings, graduate dissertations, unpublished clinical trials, and much more. * * * Document your searches using the CADTH Grey Matters checklist, p. 3. It is a MS Word document where you fill in the blanks to say which website you searched, when you searched it, etc. |
Googling the Greys: Tips for Searching Beyond Health Databases and Turning Information into Insights - This presentation provides an excellent guide to searching Google effectively to find grey literature.
Duke University Medical Center Guide to Resource for Searching the Gray Literature - A more thorough guide to grey literature, including resources for trial registries, pharmacological studies, conference abstracts, government document and more.
UMD restricted access
International databases
Conference Proceedings
Off-campus access restricted to UMCP faculty, staff and students for most of these, unless otherwise noted. Available to all others on campus at USG.
