A thorough literature search is a vital component in the preparation for any research project. You may also identify new questions to answer or discard some that have already been answered by others. You will become familiar with the methodology others in your field of interest have used. And, of course, you can find out whether anyone has already thought of your research idea and done the work.
Most residents can readily access a large number of databases containing thousands of references.
By typing in a few key words, you can usually pull up a sizable number of articles related to your particular research question. Databases There are literally hundreds of databases now available on almost any conceivable topic. Several databases are particularly useful to the physiatry resident. It cites US and foreign medical journals from 1966 onward. Many medical libraries have special terminals for running free Medline searches.