1. Searching the Literature planning a search using information resources effectively Psychology January 2015

2. Fitting the pieces together 1 – look up definitions 2 – plan search strategy 3 – choose resources 4 – begin searches 5 – refine searches 6 – note the sources of information used

3. Finding information… The key to literature searching is a step-by- step approach: Be clear about what you are searching for – look up definitions if necessary Decide which are the key terms/concepts to use as search terms Decide how you need to put those terms together logically to get the best search

4. Finding information Identify which information resources are the most appropriate for your topic Be prepared to refine your search in the light of initial results e.g. you might have to drop one of the concepts in order to retrieve more results which you can then skim through, or you might have to add another concept to cut down the number of results Keep a record of the items that you use so that you can put your bibliography together easily

5. What are you looking for? Planning is the key: look carefully at your topic break it down into concepts or themes e.g. “how reliable is eyewitness testimony”? these keywords will be your main search terms – there is no point typing in the whole sentence eyewitnesstestimonyreliable

6. Combining terms (1) AND –both words must be present in the record for it to be retrieved OR –either word or both must be present in the record for it to be retrieved Using these Boolean operators you can combine search terms to help you to get the most relevant results

7. Combining terms (2) AND eyewitness AND testimony OR eyewitness OR eye witness Using set diagrams can help to clarify what you will get if you use one operator or another: AND will narrow your search results to references which contain both terms OR will broaden your search – useful for putting synonyms or related terms together

8. Combining terms (3) use the Boolean operators to help you express your search logically e.g. eyewitnesstestimonyreliable AND

9. Synonyms and spellings think about other terms which mean the same i.e. synonyms, or related terms remember alternative spellings e.g. US vs British These will help to broaden your search to pick up other relevant references. Keyword searching will only pick up exactly what you have typed in so you need to think how other people might write about these topics in their research

10. Synonyms and spellings for example: eyewitnesstestimonyreliable eye witnessidentificationaccurate AND OR AND

11. Widening a search Other options with keyword searching: use truncation to pick up plurals or other word endings –e.g. testimon* = testimony, testimonies use wildcards to pick up spelling variants – e.g. behavio?r = behavior, behaviour use adjacency for words appearing in the same sentence –e.g. nature NEAR/4 nurture = nature nurture, nature versus nurture, nurture as opposed to nature,...

12. Truncation Put the truncation symbol at the end of a shared word stem to pick up a range of word endings eyewitness*testimon*reliab* eye witness*identif*accura* trust* AND OR AND

13. Truncation e.g. reliab* = reliable, reliability accura* = accurate, accuracy, accurately identif* = identify, identifying, identification Beware of shortening the word stem too much e.g. identi* = identity, identities, identical as well as identify, etc!

14. Limiting a search Can you make your search more specific? For example: –English language only –Date of publication (last 5 years?) –Type of publication (review articles?) –Type of population (human? animal? children?) Look out for limit options which can help you refine your search

15. Selecting your resource(s) What kind of information do you need? Do you want a dictionary for definitions, an encyclopaedia for an introduction to a topic, or the latest research articles? How much information? Are you putting together a 3000 word essay or a dissertation? Do you want some good articles giving an overview of the area or do you want everything written on it for the last 30 years?

16. Selecting your resource(s) which “finding aids” cover this type of information? e.g. Library Catalogue for books or DISCOVER for books, articles, theses, images and more databases such as PsycINFO or Web of Science for journal articles Nexis UK or Factiva for newspaper articles

17. All available via the Library Web pages http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/ http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/ The Library is a gateway to a vast amount of information – not just in printed books and journals but also online

18. Exercise to do for workshop on Thursday 22 nd January Plan a search strategy to find literature on “odour-taste interactions” 1)Underline the key search terms 2)Write each keyword or phrase at the top of a column in a search grid as in the example for eyewitness testimony… You’ll be looking into this topic later this term so get a head start now by thinking about how you would plan your literature search.

19. Search Strategy - cont... 3)Write a list of synonyms under each keyword/phrase - think about alternative spellings or phrases 4)Add truncation and wildcard symbols truncation = * wildcard = ?

20. Search Strategy – cont... 5) Write the operator OR between each word in the same column (OR will broaden your search results) 6) Write the operator AND across the columns (AND will reduce your search results) Please bring your search strategy along to the Library Skills workshop on the 22nd

21. …and finally - who says so? Evaluate the info you find, especially from un-mediated sources on the web, e.g. –Who wrote this? Their credentials? –Why did they write it and who for? Sales pitch? Bias? Academic? –Is it up-to-date? See the Internet for Psychology tutorial for more infoInternet for Psychology