Database Search Strategy
A documented plan specifying which databases to search, with what terms, filters, and combinations, to retrieve relevant literature.
A database search strategy is a documented plan for finding literature: which databases you will search, what keywords and subject headings you will use, how terms will be combined with Boolean operators, and what filters, such as date range or language, will apply. It typically includes synonyms and spelling variants for each concept, and it is refined by test searches that check whether known relevant papers are retrieved.
For a thesis, a written strategy turns searching from a haphazard activity into reportable method. Systematic and scoping reviews require the full strategy in the methodology, detailed enough to be reproduced, and even narrative reviews gain credibility from a described search. Keep a log of each database, date, search string, and result count. It saves repeated work, supports a PRISMA diagram, and answers examiner questions about coverage.
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