Cochrane Interactive Learning

Module 3: Searching for studies

About this module

Part of the Cochrane Interactive Learning course on Conducting an Intervention Review, this module covers the importance of a rigorous and systematic approach to searching for studies. In this module you will learn how to collaborate with a librarian or information specialist to design a search, choose sources for identifying published and unpublished studies and to manage and report the process.

Duration 75-90 minutes


What you can expect to learn (learning outcomes)

This module will show you how to collaborate with an Information Specialist to:

  • Identify the key sources to search when conducting a Cochrane Intervention Review
  • Suggest concepts and terms to be used in a search strategy
  • Identify the elements of the search process that need to be documented and reported

Authors, contributors, and how to cite this module

Module 3 has been written and compiled by:

Carol Lefebvre, Independent Information Consultant, Lefebvre Associates Ltd and Lead Convenor, Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Group.

Dario Sambunjak, Miranda Cumpston and Chris Watts, Cochrane Central Executive Team.

A full list of acknowledgements, including our expert advisors from across Cochrane, is available at the end of each module page.

This module should be cited as: Lefebvre C, Sambunjak D, Cumpston M, Watts C. Module 3: Searching for studies. In: Cochrane Interactive Learning: Conducting an intervention review. Cochrane, 2017. Available from training.cochrane.org/interactivelearning/module-3-searching-studies.


Update and feedback

The module was last updated on September 2022.

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