Introduction to Searching

The aim of this module is to help you consider the processes involved in searching and identify which areas you need to develop. By the end of this session you will be able to:

Module 1

• Recognise when you need to conduct a search

• Identify which searching skills you need to develop

• Find out where you can access further help with searching

Module 2

• Identify the range of resources available to you
• Identify appropriate resources relevant to your search topic
• Locate the full-text of a journal article

Module 3

• Identify what you want to know and focus your topic
• Use frameworks to break down your topic
• Identify additional search terms to broaden the search
• Use AND/OR to combine search terms• Apply limits (e.g. year of publication)

Module 4
• Apply limits (e.g. year of publication)
• See the impact of searching in the title and abstract
• See the impact of phrase searching on the results
• Amend your search strategy to reduce the number of results

Module 5

• Add different endings to a search term
• See the impact of removing keywords from your search
• See the impact of removing limits from your search
• Amend your search strategy to increase the number of results

Module 6

• Describe what a subject heading is (or thesaurus term) and why it is used
• Describe the difference between subject heading and keyword search
• Select relevant subject headings for your search
• Broaden or narrow a search using subject headings