It is good practice to fully formulate your search on one database sharing it with your supervisor or other team members. This will avoid rework when transferring into other databases. You should now have your full search plan from in Step 1 Formulate your question completed.

Before you start searching your key database, we advise that you have a look at the videos and workbooks in Step 5 Design your search strategy and do search, to ensure that your search plan is as refined as it can be before you search. If necessary, go back and alter your Full Search Plan in light of what you learned about the search process and by using the videos and workbooks.

Remember that searching properly and getting to understand the databases and controlled vocabularies takes time. Allow yourself plenty of time to search. Your first search won't be your final one - you may run lots of searches before you find the ones which work best and give the highest quality results.

We advise that the first database you chose is a control vocabulary database, rather than a keyword database. This is because it is easier to transfer a search from a controlled vocabulary database to a keyword database rather than the other way round.  

From the beginning of your search we advise you to record:

• The platform and the database used (be specific, i.e. EBSCO is a platform, ERIC is a database)
• The full search strategy - not just a list of keywords
• The date the search was carried out
• The total number of results for each database
• The total number of unique results (minus duplicates. De-duplicate using software e.g. EndNote, RAYYAN)

To find out what you are expected to record and report, have a look at the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklists and flow diagrams.

Remember if you are using grey literature not found in databases, you will need to record when and how you accessed it, including URLs. And if you are unsure how much information to record, it is always better to record as much as possible rather than too little. You can then discount what you do not need later.

It is vital that you keep track of your searches and results so that they can be recorded in your methodology and any reporting systems e.g. PRISMA or ROSES, that you may be having to use. You can keep track of these in various ways:

Create a database personal account 

Each database allows you to create a personal account in order to save your searches however the process will vary. Every database has advice on how to create an account in the help section.  If you are using a platform such as EBSCO or OVID which has several databases included in it, you only need to create one account for the platform.

Once you have created your account and completed your search, make sure you save the search to your personal account so you can access it at a later stage. If you amend the original search you can save it as a new search so that the development of the searches can be seen.

You can also set up alerts, which inform you if any new research meets the criteria of your saved search. 

Create a system that works for you

As a back up plan, and in case of losing access to the database, you may wish to copy your search into a Word document with the date and database details included. There is no right or wrong way of recording this information, so come up with a system that works for you.

As for recording your results, you can find advice about how to do this in Step 7 Manage search results.