SMILE
mainImage

Unit 5: How can I find information?

Take time to think about what types of information resources you will need for your assignment.
For some assignments you will need your notes from lectures, plus key text books from your reading lists and journal articles you have found on the topic.

For others you will need more detailed information such as statistics or standards or even primary data such as survey data or results of experiments. Let's consider how you can select keywords for your search. There are three main steps:


image of Keys

Step one: Divide your search up into key concepts
Most searches will involve several elements which will need to be considered separately. For example, the use of computers by elderly people has two – computers and elderly people.

image of Signpost

Step two: Search for keyword variations

  • Synonyms … for example. automobile or motor car
  • American or alternative spelling … for example. colour or color
  • Abbreviations … for example ATM, BSI
  • Truncation or wildcards …for example comput? for computers or computing
    organi?ation
    for organization or organisation

and diagram
or diagram
not diagram

Step three: Put it all together

You can get better results if you use symbols and qualifying terms when searching:

AND + to narrow a search - gets fewer results
OR <> to broaden a search - gets more results
NOT ~ to eliminate unwanted words

Creative Commons License
Diagrams shared under a creative commons license by Duke library http://library.duke.edu/services/instruction/libraryguide/advsearch.html SMILE - Finding Information by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License