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Conducting your literature review

Managing your search results

How do I manage my references in the most efficient way

Your search will generate many results. Not all the articles retrieved will be relevant and you will need to screen your initial results according to your inclusion and exclusion criteria. At each stage you will need to be able to note:

  • how many articles there were;
  • each of your search string combinations;
  • each of your chosen databases.

You may find the structure of a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) template a useful reference when reporting your findings.

Tools such as Rayyan, Excel,  Mendeley and Zotero can help you manage your references.