The first part in evaluating research is assessing the relevance of the research to your needs.

Your list of results will consist of brief records. At this point, you can:

• check that your search uncovered the type(s) of publication you were intending to find. For example, were you seeking only research articles or only systematic reviews?
• check that your search limiters worked as you intended.

You can click on the article title to see the full record, where the abstract (if there is one) should be visible. You can use the abstract to:

• check that the article is relevant to your needs, and/or answers your clinical question. Remember that, right from the start, you should be clear about your information need/clinical question.

If the abstract seems relevant, you can proceed to the next step and access the full-text of the article.

See the next page on Evaluating full articles for relevance and rigour.
 
Hint: In an EBSCOhost results list, you can view an article abstract quickly and easily, by hovering your mouse over the magnifying-glass icon beside the title of the article :

OR, at the top right of your results list, you can change your Page Options > Result Format from Brief to Detailed and each in the list will include the Abstract.