When searching for information on a topic or a research question, it is important to be organised and have a clear search strategy in mind. Searching involves a number of steps, and you may have to repeat steps as you fine tune your search.
A good starting point is the library´s step by step guide to search for information. Here you can find tips and advice that can help you when you need to search for information in a structured way.
The search words you choose, i.e. the words you use when you search in different databases and search services, are of major significance for the results of the search. When searching in databases there are different ways of choosing the most relevant words for your search.
Thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary that lists words in groups of synonyms and related concepts. Controlled vocabulary is a term that librarians and information professionals use to describe the official, accepted language of a specific database. Controlled vocabulary terms are occasionally different from one another across databases.
Examples of controlled vocabularies:
Keywords are either own words that the author uses to describe the article (not using the thesaurus) or words used to describe the key concepts in a research question. Free-text terms are words used in a search that is not found in the thesaurus.
Limiters and filters allow you to narrow the results down to only the ones that are most relevant. Common limits that are applied include: article type, date, and language. However, the more limits and filters you set, the narrower your results will be. It is possible for you to limit your results all the way down to 0, so be careful.
Do you need help searching for information for your article or dissertation? Do you intend to conduct a systematic literature review? As doctoral student at Malmö University, you can book a search consultation where, together with a librarian, you will receive help in finding relevant material in your subject.