A free NHS OpenAthens account is your key to unlocking digital knowledge resources. If you’re a registered healthcare professional who provides NHS-commissioned care in England then you’re eligible.
If you need help to register or renew your account watch our short video for help.
USEFUL REFERENCING LINKS
Citing & Referencing Tools
Requesting RefWorks accounts - How do I request a RefWorks account for non-library staff? - https://support.library.hee.nhs.uk/support/solutions/articles/27000047238
RefWorks Video guides - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzmTj_AGeY59VoNv-0SvcCg
Referencing guide at the University of Manchester - https://subjects.library.manchester.ac.uk/referencing-new
Leeds University - Support for Researchers - https://www.leedslibraries.nhs.uk/support-for-researchers
University of Bolton - https://leaponline.bolton.ac.uk/My-Academic-Development/My-Writing-Techniques/Referencing/Level-2/Harvard-Referencing.aspx
Edge Hill University Referencing guide - https://eshare.edgehill.ac.uk/12562/1/index.html
Edge Hill University Referencing - https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/departments/support/ls/uni-skills/referencing/
What is referencing?
Referencing is the acknowledgment of all the sources that have been cited in your assignment, whether you have quoted them directly or paraphrased. This can include sources such as books, journal articles, and webpages. There are various referencing styles available and your tutor will let you know which one they want you to use in your work.
Why do I need to reference?
Referencing the sources of information that you use in your work is an essential part of academic writing, so it is important to understand how to do it. This is a skill you will develop throughout your time at university, so don’t worry if you aren’t a referencing pro just yet. And although accurately acknowledging your sources ensures your academic integrity, it also demonstrates the scope of your research, which could even help improve your marks.
Accurate referencing in your assignment helps to direct your readers to the information you have used, demonstrates that you have researched your topic thoroughly, supports your arguments, gives your work an evidential basis, and protects against charges of plagiarism.
When do I need to reference?
You need to reference any time you use, or refer to, another person’s work within your own work.
All styles of referencing consist of two parts: a citation in the main text of your assignment and a complete list of references at the end of your work. The list at the end of your work is often called a reference list or bibliography. A reference list is an explicit list of sources cited in your assignment. A bibliography also includes any wider materials that has informed your assignment. Check which style your tutor requires for each assignment.
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme - https://www.northerncarealliance.nhs.uk/research-education/library/finding-evidence
Support for Researchers - https://www.leedslibraries.nhs.uk/support-for-researchers
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme - CASP Checklists - Critical Appraisal Skills Programme
Critical Appraisal Checklists
We offer a number of free downloadable checklists to help you more easily and accurately perform critical appraisal across a number of different study types.
The CASP checklists are easy to understand but in case you need any further guidance on how they are structured, take a look at our guide on how to use our CASP checklists.
Systematic Reviews with Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies
Systematic Reviews with Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs)
Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) Checklist
Clinical Prediction Rule Checklist
Click on the links below to access databases. You may need your Athens login:
- EBSCO Databases (Includes MEDLINE, CINAHL, Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection)
- OVID Databases (includes Embase, Emcare, HMIC, MEDLINE, Social Policy and Practice)
- ProQuest (includes PsycINFO, BNI, PsycArticles, Health Research Premium Collection)
• Dialog (includes AMED)
- NCA Discovery A simple way to start your search and explore resources on your topic
- Specialist Nursing Collection: MAH Complete (over 31 titles in nursing, midwifery and allied health)
Clinical decision support tools
Clinical decision support tools can give you quick and easy access to the current best evidence on a topic as a starting point for your research.
BMJ Best Practice is an award-winning online decision-support tool for use at the point of care. BMJ Best Practice draws on the latest evidence-based research to offer step-by-step guidance on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention.
Clinical Knowledge Summaries is geared towards primary care practitioners and provides accessible summaries of the current evidence base and practical guidance on over 370 topics.
Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines is the essential evidence-based prescribing guidelines on the safe and effective prescribing of psychotropic agents.
Royal Marsden Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures includes over 350 evidence-based clinical procedures related to every aspect of care, from handwashing to cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
List of Journals Titles in each collection above
Nursing Research
Journal of Nursing Scholarship
Asian Nursing Research
Journal of Nursing Research
Global Qualitative Nursing Research
Annual Review of Nursing Research
Nordic Journal of Nursing Research
Research and Theory for Nursing Practice
Nurse Researcher
Medical Research
ALTEX – Alternatives to Animal Experimentation
Archives of Medical Research
Archives of Medical Science
Archives of the Balkan Medical Union
Behavior Research Methods
BioMedicine
BMC Medical Research Methodology
BMJ Innovations
BMJ Open Science
Cell Medicine
Cell Transplantation
Challenges
Clinical and Investigative Medicine
Clinical Trials
Cochrane Library
Contemporary Clinical Trials
Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications
Current Medical Research and Opinion
Database: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation
EBioMedicine
European Journal of Medical Research
Experimental & Molecular Medicine
Gaceta Médica de México
Implementation Science
Implementation Science Communications
Indian Journal of Medical Research
Interactive Journal of Medical Research
International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Issledovaniâ i Praktika v Medicine / Research and Practical in Medicine
JMIR Formative Research
JMIR Research Protocols
Journal of Applied Biomedicine
Journal of Clinical & Scientific Research
Journal of Clinical and Translational Science
Journal of Controversies in Biomedical Research
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
Journal of Experimental & Clinical Medicine
Journal of International Medical Research
Journal of Investigative Medicine
Journal of Investigative Medicine High Impact Case Reports
Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Journal of Negative Results in BioMedicine
Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
Journal of the International Clinical Dental Research Organization
Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
Medical Hypotheses
Methods and Protocols
Muller Journal of Medical Sciences and Research
Nordisk Tidsskrift for Helseforskning / Nordic Magazine for Health Research
Pediatric Research
Perspectives in Clinical Research
Photoacoustics (Munich)
Pilot and Feasibility Studies
Reports — Medical Cases, Images, and Videos
Research Integrity and Peer Review
Research Involvement and Engagement
Revista de Investigacion Clinica
SSM - Qualitative Research in Health
Statistical Methods in Medical Research
Systematic Reviews
Trends in Molecular Medicine
Trials
Tungs' Medical Journal
Wellcome Open Research
Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Pathologie und Therapie
Health Services and Outcomes Research
Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research
BMC Health Services Research
BMJ Innovations
BMJ Open Quality
Cochrane Library
European Heart Journal - Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes
Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research
Health Literacy Research and Practice
Health Research Policy and Systems
Health Services and Delivery Research
Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology
Health Services Insights
Health Services Management Research
Health Services Research & Managerial Epidemiology
Health Systems and Reform
Healthcare
HERD Health Environments Research & Design Journal
Implementation Science Communications
Interactive Journal of Medical Research
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
International Journal of Health Geographics
International Journal of Integrated Care
International Journal of Mental Health Systems
International Practice Development Journal
JAMA Health Forum
JMIR Formative Research
JMIR mHealth and uHealth
JMIR Research Protocols
JMIR Serious Games
Journal of Communication in Healthcare
Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research
Journal of Compassionate Health Care
Journal of Health Services Research & Policy
Journal of Integrated Care
Journal of Interprofessional Care
Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Journal of Participatory Medicine
Journal of Patient Experience
Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews (JPCRR)
Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes
Learning Health Systems
Measurement and Evaluations in Cancer Care
Mental Health Services Research
Patient Safety in Surgery
Primary Health Care Research & Development
Quality of Life Research
Research in Health Services & Regions : Methods, Results, Implementation
The International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine
The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
The Patient - Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
Tidsskrift for omsorgsforskning
Connecting you seamlessly to a range of high-quality knowledge and evidence resources all in one place, the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub is a single gateway to 1000s of journals, books, clinical decision support and databases like Medline.
For more advanced searching and systematic review, use databases like Medline, Embase and The Cochrane Library. Go to our Resources for advanced searching page for more information and links to training.
If you’re new to literature searching, or need a refresher, why not try this e-learning course: How to search the literature effectively.
If you do advanced searches across multiple databases you may want to use a reference management product to manage your search results and produce bibliographies. Contact your local NHS library to apply for a RefWorks account.
About the Literature Searching programme
These modules are designed to help the healthcare workforce (clinical and non-clinical) build confidence to search published literature for articles and evidence relevant to their work, study and research. The modules are short (each taking no more than 20 minutes to complete) and may be ‘dipped into’ for reference, or completed to obtain a certificate. There are seven modules suitable for novice searchers and those wishing to refresh their knowledge:
- Module 1 Introduction to searching
- Module 2 Where do I start searching?
- Module 3 How do I start to develop a search strategy?
- Module 4 Too many results? How to narrow your search
- Module 5 Too few results? How to broaden your search
- Module 6 Searching with subject headings
If you require further assistance contact your local healthcare library team. Check the Health Library and Information Services Directory to find your local library.
City Library - Advanced literature search and systematic reviews - https://libguides.city.ac.uk/systematic-reviews/protocol
Develop your protocol
If you are undertaking a systematic review, once you have established your question and developed your search strategy, you will need to create a protocol.
Your protocol is a proposal of the review you wish to perform, and a plan of how you are going to go about it. The protocol sets out the methods to be used in the review and provides an explicit plan for your work.
If you are undertaking a different type of study, you may have to create a research proposal which performs the same purpose as a protocol.
Your protocol should include:
Rationale / conceptual discussion of problem (background of)
The review question(s) and objective(s)
Search strategy
Study selection criteria
Study quality assessment
Data extraction procedure
Data synthesis procedure
Research Information Network - Research Information Network
Research Support Service - Research Support Service | NIHR
Providing support and advice for health and social care researchers. The Research Support Service can help with developing funding applications and at other stages in the research pathway.
A Guide for Developing a Protocol for Conducting Literature Reviews - https://msktc.org/sites/default/files/MSKTC-Tool-Dev-SR-Prot-508.pdf
PRISMA for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) - https://www.prisma-statement.org/scoping
