How Extensive a Search of the Literature Is Required

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The Answer is Literature reviews must be thorough. As indicated above, the main difficulty is being confident that no important sources have been missed. Finding good articles on the topic does not mean others don't exist. Sound, methodical search strategies will minimise the risk of not finding important articles, but the rate at which you find these articles will act as a guide to whether the review is sufficiently thorough. Put simply, when further searching turns up no important new articles, you've probably found everything important; however, be aware that a slight change in the focus of the search strategy might reveal other relevant articles.

How Extensive a Search of the Literature Is Required

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