Hand Searching
Manually scanning journals, reference lists, or conference proceedings to find studies that database searches miss.
Hand searching is the manual examination of sources to find relevant studies: browsing the tables of contents of key journals issue by issue, scanning conference proceedings, or checking reference lists directly. It complements database searching, which depends on indexing and keywords and therefore misses studies that are poorly indexed, use unexpected terminology, or appear in unindexed venues.
In thesis work, hand searching matters most when your review claims comprehensiveness. Systematic review guidance treats it as a standard supplementary method, and reporting it strengthens your methodology chapter. Even for a narrative review, browsing recent issues of the two or three central journals in your field is a fast way to catch new work and to absorb how your community frames its questions. Record what you searched and when, so the effort is reportable.
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