Finding Information

Finding Scholarly Information for Assessments

The workshop explains how to find scholarly information by building a deliberate search strategy rather than relying on broad searches.

1. Decide what information you need

• Read the assessment question and identify its key concepts and topic words.
• Consider search parameters such as date range, location, and relevant groups or demographics.
• Check which types of sources are required, such as journal articles, books, or archival material. Ask a lecturer or tutor if the requirements are unclear.
• For the example question, “Social media is changing the way people relate to each other. Discuss,” possible key concepts include social media, change, people, and relationships.

2. Build and test keywords

Use keywords rather than entering a whole question into a library catalog or database; these tools do not work exactly like Google. Brainstorm synonyms and related terms, then try different combinations. Small changes can produce very different numbers and relevance of results.

Concept Example keywords Social media Facebook, social network, Twitter Changing altering, evolving, shaping People youth, community, families Relate interact, communicate, connect

3. Search effectively

• Use filters to narrow results by publication date, source, subject, format, and peer-review status.
• A peer-reviewed article has been evaluated by experts in its field.
• Use search symbols:
  • An asterisk can find different endings of a word. For example, alter* may find “altering” and “alterations.”
  • Quotation marks can search for an exact phrase, such as "social media".
• Use advanced search options:
  • AND requires all entered terms to appear.
  • OR finds results containing any of the terms.
  • NOT excludes a term.
• Check an item’s subject headings and related-reading suggestions to discover additional resources.

4. Choose where to search

• Start with the university library catalog, which can search books, articles, and other materials.
  • For print books, note the call number. A student ID is needed to borrow them.
  • For online books and articles, follow the available links to access the text.
  • Check details such as peer-review status, access options, and item descriptions.
• Search databases for scholarly articles and other academic information. Access may require logging in with a university username and password.
• Use subject guides on the library website to find databases and other resources suited to a particular discipline. Forensic science is given as an example.
• Google Scholar is mentioned as a multidisciplinary database option.
• Evaluate whether each source is suitable to use. The workshop points to an evaluation diagram but does not explain its criteria in the subtitles.

Speakers and sources featured

• Speaker: Sean Hodgers, who says he works in Libraries and Learning Services.
• Sources and tools: The university library catalog, library databases, subject guides, Google Scholar, peer-reviewed articles, the example essay question, and the evaluation diagram.
• The subtitles refer to an example database as “EPSO”; the name may have been mistranscribed.