You will need to keep track of the resources you used. You can do this by using an Excel document of a citation software like Zotero.
In addition, you may want to use an evidence table to group the information. See the document below for examples.
Select the databases in your discipline. Consider databases that are in other subject areas. For example, in researching the health benefits of playing you may want to look at ERIC, the education database.
When searching the databases:
- Keep track of the keywords you used so you do not duplicate searche.s
- Keep track of the databases you have searched.
- Reuse successful search terms in multiple databases. For example, EBSCO databases will use similar keywords.
- Provide evidence of a thorough search. What are your criteria for inclusion and exclusion?
When selecting information, consider:
- How has the topic been investigated before-- using prospective or retrospective research methods; which techniques or laboratory procedures? What was measured and using what scales or procedures? Can you characterize the results of the prior investigations? Are they uniform or do they vary widely?
- How has the topic affected people-- have a representation about a variety of people, from a variety of geographic locations, races/ethnicities, ages, environments (community-dwelling, hospital inpatients), gender, disease stage. If you cannot find this information, did you looked enough? Or becasue the topic has not been well research or affect these variances?
- Include perspectives written by and for the groups that are important to my topic. For examples, patients and physical therapists.
- How does your project fit into this existing research-- Do you provide a new perspective; develop a new technique/theory; replicate the results of a study; fill in gaps in knowledge? Why is your research valuable?