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Course description
Conducting an evidence synthesis — for example a systematic review, scoping review, or narrative review — requires a transparent, comprehensive, and reproducible literature search strategy. This full-day workshop is intended for PhD candidates and researchers in all academic fields who want to build skills in systematic searching methods and apply them in their ongoing research projects.
Participants will gain practical, step-by-step experience navigating every stage of the systematic search process.
We begin by discussing how to choose the right databases by evaluating multidisciplinary and subject-specific databases. Next, participants will learn how to find core components (such as PICO or SPIDER) to build concept blocks. We will explore how to identify controlled vocabulary (subject headings/MeSH) as well as free-text synonyms, combining them effectively using Boolean operators (AND, OR). Participants will practice key search techniques, including truncation, exact phrase searching with quotation marks, and proximity operators to refine precision and sensitivity.
Furthermore, the workshop covers translating search strategies across different database interfaces. Participants will learn supplementary literary search methods, including forward and backward citation tracking and snowballing techniques. Finally, we will examine the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in literature retrieval, discussing practical workflows, opportunities, and limitations.
Combining core theoretical concepts with dedicated hands-on guidance, this one day seminar introduces participants to systematic literature searching and supports them in beginning a tailored search strategy for their own topic.
Target audience
PhD candidates and researchers
Learning outcomes
- Applying search methods and strategies directly to participants’ own research questions.
- Database selection
- Search frameworks and key components
- Subject headings versus free-text terms
- Boolean logic
- Truncation, quotation marks, and proximity operators
- Adapting searches across databases
- Citation searching and snowball searching
- AI tools for literature searching
Prerequisites
- Ideally, participants should have a research question suitable for an evidence synthesis.
Required materials
- Laptop
Lunch
- There will be a complementary buffet-lunch at 12:00-13:00 from the Sverdrups spiseri (Georg Sverdrups Hus, 2nd floor).
- After you get your lunch, join us at Store møterom where we have reserved seats for #DSDays2027 participants.
Number of participants
20
Contact
If you have any questions regarding this course, or anything else about the DSDays 2027 event, please contact us per email: digitalscholarship@ub.uio.no