Evidence searches for coursework/study

Guidance for this type of search.

Notes

The suggested time to allocate to this search: Do not spend more than half an hour responding to a request that will be going solely towards coursework if you are not going to do a training session with the requester.

Please read:

• "All evidence searches" (see "Quick links") before proceeding
• and the "Supplement" section for examples of this type of search

Planning

Respond to the requester promptly if you are not going to perform the search on their behalf, so that they are not waiting and relying on you to do their coursework for them while their deadline approaches!

If the requester is looking for a handful of recent peer reviewed papers on a topic for an assignment, direct them to the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub or your local discovery tool if you have one, with instructions, or offer to go through this with them (coaching them, discretely training them).

If the requester cannot/will not go through the process in person, and cannot/will not be signposted, and if time allows, consider sending them the results of a very quick cursory search (see “execution” below) and offer them further training.

Ask questions to ascertain if this is the case. Explain your policy to the requester, as not every student is aware that they cannot ask you to do uncredited coursework searches.

If their search is going solely towards coursework you can refer them to their university library services, or if time allows, offer training to the requester, suggesting that in a training session you can coach them through their search while they learn the principles of searching, and will come away with useful results.

If the requester stresses that the search results will also be used in their day-to-day clinical work to improve service etc. and so it is permissible for you to do this search for them.

Offer them a training session where you can coach them through their search as they learn the principles of searching, so they can continue on their own if needed.

Instruct the requester to declare that they have had assistance if you do this – using your help without acknowledgement is plagiarism.

An exception to this rule are searches that are contributing towards a PhD as well as day-to-day clinical work etc.: If you are asked to help be sure to emphasise that supervisors should be aware of your involvement, and included in correspondence where possible to ensure transparency and the rigour of the search.

Allow more time for such searches.

Execution

Go through a training session with the requester, getting them hands-on with the relevant database(s) and coaching them through the process, ensuring they come away with enough results to use for their coursework/study, plus the confidence and skills to find more on their own.

If the requester has asked for a handful of recent articles for an assignment and you are NOT going to train them, do not spend very long on this: signpost them to the appropriate resources (the KLHub etc.) with instructions on how to use them.

If time allows and you perform a very quick cursory search of one of these sources for them, send the results to the requester along with your offer of training.

Depending on their topic (and which of the resources below your service is currently promoting or which you happen to have open when you receive the request) do one of the following:

Results

If you train the requester, offer to look over their search strategy if they work on it after your session together – to provide some support and ideas to improve it (without doing it all for them).

If, rather than train or signpost the user, you do a very quick search for them, supply them with freely available full text access results, if possible. Explain that these are not comprehensive, but that they can discover more at a training session...