Literature Search: Importance, Reliability, and Strategy

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In today's time, everything is available online, and it is effortless to look for pieces of evidence when conducting research. In addition, people during this time are also using technology advancements to verify whether the information they receive is accurate. Therefore, it is essential to use specific literature pieces to support and validate the research. Furthermore, there is a particular method for locating the best literature that will be relevant to the study. This paper defines a literature search, its importance, reliability, and the literature search strategy used in the formulated PICO question.
Literature Search
A literature search is a systematic search for critical pieces of literature related to the research topic. It must include defining what is being searched, where to search, developing a search strategy to make the search more accessible and practical, refining the search strategy, and saving the search for future use (Cooper et al., 2018; University of Leeds, n.d.). Therefore, a literature search entails steps to ensure a successful and efficient search.
The steps in a literature search are arranged chronologically. The first step is defining what is being searched. It is essential to specify the information that a researcher needs. A researcher may set a scope and limitation to provide a more apparent range for what is being searched. If the study focuses on health, the researcher may use the PICO question to specify the concepts that need to be explored. The second step is identifying where to search. Although there are several sources online, it is still recommendable to choose a database that offers various reliable and valid articles, books, and other grey literature (Renfro, 2017). There are also specific databases for different subjects, such as sciences, health, psychology, education, and the like. The third step is developing a search strategy. This step is crucial since the success of the literature search heavily depends on the researcher's search strategy. A search strategy includes selecting search terms, using exact words and phrases, rephrasing keywords, using subject headings, applying the Boolean logic, or citation searching. If these strategies are utilized, a researcher may collect several pieces of literature. The fourth step is refining the search strategy. Since many resources are available, one may refine a search strategy by limiting and filtering the search. In this way, the information that the researcher will gather is only essential. And the last step is saving research for future use. It is necessary to track and record the searches to avoid data loss and confusion. The researcher must also keep the search since the researcher will use it for the reference or bibliography, which will help the scholars and other readers verify the research (University of Leeds, n.d.). All the steps are necessary for a literature search.
Importance of an Effective Search Strategy
An effective search strategy can help a researcher. It can produce the best results by providing the best pieces of literature, saving time and effort, and it helps a study to be organized (Harding, 2021). Therefore, a researcher must ch...