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Physical Therapy: Searching the Literature

A guide to literature searching.

The process

Steps for Acquiring Evidence

  1. Identify a clinical problem
  2. Create a well-defined research question (using PICO)
  3. Translate PICO into a search strategy
    • Brainstorm and gather synonyms
    • Construct the search strategy
  4. Select most likely resources (databases)
  5. Tailor search strategy to database(s)
  6. Save search & export citations to reference manager

What is a literature search?

A systematic and thorough search of published literature in order to collect information about a particular topic.

Why do we do literature searches?

  • Create research proposals
  • Collect evidence on effectiveness of clinical treatments
  • To make a clinical decision
  • Gather information for presentations

Why do we do literature searches?

  • Create research proposals
  • Collect evidence on effectiveness of clinical treatments
  • To make a clinical decision
  • Gather information for presentations

Citation Management

When you find articles of interest in a database or search engine, bibliographic management programs such as Zotero or EndNote make it easy to create a personal collection of references (citations and/or articles) and cite them in your document in the citation style of your choice.

  • EndNote offers many of the same features as RefWorks, yet must be purchased. It is available from the University Computer Store, TechZone. 
  • Mendeley is a free application and does not require Internet access. It can query PubMed for more accurate citation information and matching PDFs, yet with mixed success.
  • Zotero is open-source and free, yet requires an additional plug-in to manage PDFs. Internet access not required.