Planning your literature search

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Planning yourliteraturesearch

Outcomesfrom today

Review the information and

publishing landscape, as it relates to your research area.

Recognise the elements of an effective search

strategy.

Plan your search strategy.

Identify resources relevant to your

research.

Information landscapehow does it look to you?

• Discuss the types of publications you will be reading & using for your thesis - think of at least 4 different formats

• Which are the most important dissemination and publication methods for research in your subject area?

Books

Journals

Conferences

Internet

Reports

Specialist data

People

Reference books Text booksMonographs Novels & Plays

Academic PopulistProfessional

Company information Government informationIndividuals Social media: Blogs, TwitterAssociations Organisations

Statistics PatentsCase Law LegislationStandards PerformancesExhibitions

Peers Supervisors

Information landscape

Why?

our thoughts…

Academic context

Critical practice

Refine ideas

Why?

our thoughts…

Defend

Explain

Be aware

Search strategyhow do you search?

In pairs discuss:

How you currently search for information?

Do you think you are a successful searcher? yes / no – why?

The type of literature review you undertake will affect the way you

search

Different reviewsdifferent searches

Wide range of publications

Current and recent

literature

Go beyond your discipline

Help and advice

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Keyword Searching

Keywordscommon search strategy

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Jeffreys, Alec John

Jeffreys, Alec J

Jeffreys, A J

Jeffreys, A*

Author searchingspecialist search

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Advicefollow

recommendations

Supervisors

Colleagues

Conferences

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Browsing

Adviceother strategies

Browsing

References

Alerts

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Citation Searching

Find a good article

Find out who cited this article

Citationsspecialist search

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Citation SearchingWhere to start

key concepts

Example thesis title: Discuss the extent to which violence on television affects teenagers

What do you think the key concepts are ?

There are three key concepts:

1. Violence 2.Television3.Teenagers

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Citation SearchingKeywords

identifying alternatives

Violence Television Teenagers

AggressionBrutalityViolentAnger

TVTellyMedia

TeenTeenagerAdolescentJuvenile

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Citation SearchingKeywords

identifying alternatives

Keyword

Broader Term

Synonym

Narrower Term

Antonym

Specialist

Abbrev

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Citation SearchingKeywords

combining

Connector Use

AND To combine your different concepts.

OR To combine your alternative keywords.

NOT To exclude words.

“second world war”

Use speech marks to search on a phrase.

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Citation SearchingKeywords

spelling and truncation

Database options

Use

Arch?ology Arch*ology

Wildcard symbols (?*) to find British and American spellings.

Battle* will find battles, battlefield, battlement

Truncation symbols (! * $ ?) to find different word endings.

Your turn…complete activity 2 on the worksheet

What is your research question?

Generate a list of key

concepts & keywords

How will you connect your

keywords?Identify limits

Search tools

Books

Journals

Conferences

Newspapers

Archives

Media

Library All Search COPACFull text databases Google Books

Library All Search Google ScholarSubject specific databases

Library All Search Subject specific databasesWeb of Knowledge/Scopus

Archives Hub Specific archive cataloguesGoogle

Google Box of Broadcasts

Nexis/Factiva Specific newspapers British Library (Digital archives)

How to select databases to search…

Databases

how to chooseMy Subject pages

Recommendations

Trial searches

How Many Databases are Enough?Database

s

how many?3-5 quality resources

Use completed theses

Golden RulesGolden Rules

to help your search

• Start early

• Keep records

• Modify your search strategy

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