Strategies
Steps to Searching the Literature in Health Sciences
A comprehensive step-by-step guide from U. Toronto Health Sciences Library that helps you how to properly and effectively conduct comprehensive searches of the literature.
Research Rabbit
A free online citation-based literature mapping tool. Use this site to find articles similar to ones you have already found. Connects to a Zotero account for ease in citing. A short video tutorial can help you understand how to set up and use it.
Tip Sheets
How To
Find a Specific Journal
Understand Types of Lit Reviews
Evaluate Articles & Research Evidence
Do a Systematic Review
Find a Specific Journal
Understand Types of Lit Reviews
Evaluate Articles & Research Evidence
- Make Sense of health research articles and understand the basics of scientific studies.
- A Simple Guide to Reading an Abstract
- What’s a CAT?
Clinically Appraised Topic guide from Physiopedia. Includes link to a useful CAT worksheet. - Critical Appraisal Tools
Links to worksheets for the critical appraisal of medical evidences; includes Systematic Reviews, Diagnostics, Prognosis, Randomised Controlled Trials; from Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) - JAMA Evidence
Guides to the systematic consideration of the validity, importance, and applicability of claims about the assessment of health problems and the outcomes of health care. Includes User’s Guides to the Medical Literature; The Rational Clinical Examination; and a variety of diagnostic calculators. (Journal of the American Medical Association). - How to evaluate an article about a diagnostic test
From British Medical Journal (BMJ). Diagnostic test studies: assessment and critical appraisal.
Do a Systematic Review
- Systematic Review Guide
This guide outlines steps and considerations for SR, including protocols, standards, and data extraction; from Cornell University Weil Library - Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
- Systematic Review Tool Box
Helpful Books
- Doing a Literature Review in Health and Social Care
- Searching Skills Toolkit: Finding the Evidence
- Designing & Managing Your Research Project: Core Skills for Social & Health Research
- Systematic Reviews to Answer Health Care Questions
- Systematic Reviews in Health Care: Meta-Analysis in Context
- Doing a Systematic Review: a Student’s Guide
- Understanding Clinical Papers
- How to Read a Paper: the Basics of Evidence-Based Medicine & Healthcare