Advanced searching
Library Guide
Although Summon is a useful tool, you may find
individual databases better for more advanced or
focused searching, especially if you are embarking
on a significant research project, for example a
final year project or dissertation. Databases
contain a collection of electronic material,
primarily journal articles, but may also include
conference papers, reports and other material.
How to search a database
Once you have identified your keywords you are ready
to search within your chosen database (see the
appropriate Subject guide if you are unsure which
database/s are relevant for your subject area). Each
database will look slightly different, but the principles
of searching are the same. The ‘Advanced search’
option will usually give you two or three boxes in which
to enter keywords as well as options to limit your
search, for example by date. If the results are not
appropriate for your needs, consider modifying your
search, or narrowing/broadening your results by
adding extra search terms.
Some useful search tips:
Plan your search strategy
Thinking about the keywords you will use to search
databases is an important part of your search
strategy. How you decide on keywords is up to you
and will depend on your particular topic, but you may
find it useful to break your topic/assignment down into
concepts.
You will need to think about similar terms, synonyms
or other ways of referring to a concept, for example,
one author might use the term internet while another
uses web. If you were to only search for internet you
would miss out on all the articles that mention the
words web, online and similar unless they also
mention the word internet. You may find a thesaurus
useful when coming up with synonyms. Some
databases also have an inbuilt thesaurus or related
word facility which you can make use of.
As you locate useful information and read further into
a topic, you may come across additional useful
keywords – don’t forget to include these in your
subsequent searches.
Remember literature searching is an ongoing process
and you should not expect to find everything you need
for your research on your first search attempt.
These tips apply to most of the databases available via
the Library website, however, occasionally other
symbols (sometimes $ or !) are used instead of the
asterisk *. Check the help function within the
database if you are unsure.
Advanced searching
Library Guide
Refining your search
To find relevant results
You may find that your search returns too many or too
few results to work with, or results that are not exactly
what you need. Refining your search should ensure
that you identify more of the available and relevant
material to read.
Search results can be sorted by various criteria (title,
data of publication, relevance...). Sorting results by
relevance will list items where your keywords feature
most prominently or more often nearer the top of the
results list.
To get fewer results
In some databases, such as Scopus, you can sort
results by the number of times each article has been
cited in other publications. This may be useful when
you get many seemingly useful results, but are not
sure which articles to prioritise.
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Use the options offered within the database
for filtering your search
Limit to academic/scholarly journals, removing
results from trade magazines which may be
biased news articles or opinion pieces
To find current research, use the date options
to limit to recently published articles. Or look
for articles published before a particular date
or between two dates to find research from a
certain point in time, e.g. before 2007 for
material written before the recent financial
crisis.
Some databases allow you to limit by type of
article, e.g. case study or book review
You could try searching only in certain
journals, e.g. those recommended by lecturers
in reading lists or study guides. You can also
identify quality journals relevant to your
subject area using the journal quality options
listed on the Journal Impact Factors or Journal
quality lists web pages.
To get more results
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When you find a relevant article, look at its
keywords, usually on the abstract page. You
may be able to click on keywords to link to
further results. If this is not possible, note
down the keywords to use in further searches
yourself.
If you have searched for several concepts
linked with AND, try removing one of these
keywords to widen your search topic
Consider using alternative search words or
synonyms, using OR to combine them
Using databases such as Scopus, you can also view
references and citations for individual articles and link
from one article to others that it either refers to or is
cited in:
i.
Follow references to find earlier publications
ii.
Follow citations to find articles that were
written more recently
Look through several pages of results. Most databases
have the facility for you to mark results, or add them
to a folder, so that you can go through them more
selectively later.
The majority of databases have a facility for saving a
search you have carried out. You can then return to
the search later, or have new results sent to you via
email or RSS feed.
Most databases will provide a help section or
guidelines on how to get the most from them, so
please do consult these.
Please note, literature searching is an ongoing
process and you may have to carry out a number of
different searches across multiple different
databases to obtain comprehensive results.