How to search for information sources effectively

Searching for a book

When you are searching for a book on your reading list using LibrarySearch, keep your search terms very simple, e.g., just type cottrell study skills – not the whole book reference which includes date, publisher, punctuation, etc. When you find the book in the results list, click on the title to check if it is available in the library and how long you can borrow it for. If it is an e-book then click on the link in the record to go to a digitised version of the book.

Watch this short video:

Searching for a journal

In LibrarySearch click on “Find e journals by title” or “Browse e journals by topic” to search for specific journals related to your subject. You can then browse inside these journals or search inside them for a specific topic.

Searching for a database

In LibrarySearch click on “Find Databases A-Z” to discover all the databases the library subscribes to. Many of these contain journals, but there are also a whole range of other databases that include newspapers, historical documents, images, videos, study skills support and more.

Identifying and developing search terms for a topic

Whether you are searching within LibrarySearch, an online database, Google, or Google Scholar (which finds academic literature) you need to first identify the “keywords” that describe your topic. Do not type in a whole assignment title. You can then develop your keywords further:

• Think of alternative or related words that describe your topic, e.g. if you are searching for world war two also try second world war.
• Be prepared to search again if you find too many results, make your search more precise by adding more words e.g. search for teaching primary mathematics rather than teaching mathematics
• If you do not find many results then make your search more general, e.g. search for infection control rather than handwashing
• Use quotation marks to search for words that appear together in a phrase, e.g. “social media”
• Use truncation symbols to find variations of words that start the same, e.g. child* will find child, children, childhood etc.