LibGuides: NURS 826 / 899B: Evidence Based Nursing: How to begin searching

How to begin searching

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As the scope of grey literature is extremely broad, Sayre recommends (slide 8) considering the following questions in order to narrow down your search:

Who are your stakeholders?

Government?
Non-government?
Academic?

What kinds of literature are you interested in?

Theses and dissertations?
Conference proceedings?
Reports?
Statistics?

What time period or geographic/geopolitical area is relevant to your search?

The resources below provide detailed guidance on how to approach searching grey literature.

Cochrane Handbook - Grey Literature
Cochrane handbook guidelines to searching grey literature.
Grey Matters Light: Top 14 Resources for Evidence-based Medicine Searching
Top 14 Resources for Evidence-Based Medical Grey Literature Searching from CADTH’s Grey Matters Document: https://www.cadth.ca/resources/finding-evidence/grey-matters-practical-search-tool-evidence-based-medicine

SRC Grey Literature - Tips and Checklist
Paynter provides a checklist of resources searched by librarians when conducting a systematic review. Three specific categories are covered: regulatory information, trial registries, and abstracts & conferences.
Searching the Grey Literature: Where To Look and What To Expect (Text Version)
Slide Presentation from the AHRQ 2011 Annual Conference that provides guidance on where to look and what to look for.
Finding Grey Literature Evidence and Assessing for Outcome and Analysis Reporting Biases When Comparing Medical Interventions: AHRQ and the Effective Health Care Program
Download the AHRQ Methods Guide for Finding Grey Literature Evidence. Provides guidance to authors of systematic reviews as to which specific resources to search.
Finding the Hard to Finds: Searching for Grey Literature - 2012
Download Dean Giustini's manual that includes links to resources and a systematic approach to searching grey literature. USC Sophos antivirus software did not detect any viruses upon downloading this document.

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