Search strategy

How it is used

Very common in literature reviews, dissertations, and review protocols. It is often reported so others can understand or repeat the search.

Example sentences

1. Before starting the review, we tested our search strategy to see whether the chosen keywords captured the major studies.

   Here, the term refers to the designed plan for locating studies, especially the choice and testing of keywords.

2. The appendix lists our full search strategy, including Boolean operators, date limits, and reasons for excluding conference papers.

   In this example, the term covers the documented rules and tools used to carry out the search in a transparent way.

Common collocations

• develop a search strategy
• comprehensive search strategy
• search strategy appendix

Related terms

• literature reviewA critical summary of what has already been published on a topic, showing the main ideas, debates and gaps that a new study responds to.
• methodologyThe overall approach and reasoning behind how a study is done, including the choice of design, methods, data and analysis, and the reasons for those choices.

More terms: Literature Review

• literature
• research gap
• theoretical framework
• seminal
• synthesize
• draw on
• build on
• primary source
• secondary source
• systematic review
• database
• meta-analysis