Summer Undergraduate Research Program - Fred Hutchinson ...

How to Conduct a Literature Search
Literature searches are most commonly done when writing abstracts, research papers, or scientific reviews.
They are used to locate articles, citations, and other information to substantiate or refute a given topic . The
internet offers a number of avenues from which to conduct literature searches, but here are some sources
that have been found to be the most useful . Although literature searches are fairly straightforward, there
are some techniques that you can use to access articles that would otherwise require a journal subscription .
This protocol will guide you through the process of conducting a literature search and obtaining articles
that may require a journal subscription .
Technique #1: Enter the entire title of the article in Google Scholar and try the “All
[#] versions” link at the bottom of each result . Look for “PDF” and/or
“HTML” links . Make sure to click all of the links available as some may
contain a “full text pdf” option .
Technique #2: Enter the entire title of the article in Google. If you cannot find a full text
article, try adding “PDF” to the search .
Technique #3: Enter the entire title of the article in Pubmed (Get Article Enabled) from
the Arnold Library website:
http://www .fhcrc .org/science/shared_resources/library/
Technique #4: Request the article from the FHCRC’s Arnold Library . To do this,
search for the title of the article in PubMed (Get Article Enabled) using
the instructions outlined in Technique #3 . Select the article from the
choices (if there are multiple) .You will see a “FHCRC Get Article” button
in the top right corner of the screen . Press that button and you will be
taken to an Arnold Library webpage . Click on the link “Request it from
the Library’s Document Delivery/ILL Service” . NOTE: this technique
requires that you fill out an order form and may take weeks for the
article to be delivered, therefore it takes the longest and should be used
as a last resort .
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