How to search for academic publications?
Information found using Google can disappear or change. Information in databases can be found more systematically, is not easily lost and can be checked by others.
View the minilecture below and discover more benefits of searching the databases of the Hanze Library.
Keywords
Using an entire sentence or research question sometimes works in Google, but not in a database. Therefore, search with good search terms (also called "keywords").
First define your question into sub-elements. Then collect one or more search terms for each element. You can enter these search terms into a database to find the most relevant articles.
How to find relevant search terms?
- Check websites in your field of education to find terms in the jargon (for example: pressure ulcer in stead of bedsore)
- Search for broader (more general) and narrower terms (more specific)
- Translate your terms into other languages
- Also use the singular and plural of the terms
See this example:
Websites for finding search terms
You can use several websites for searching for relevant search terms. For example:
Some databases have their own thesaurus. This is a list of words with assigned keywords to articles. A thesaurus contains broader terms (more general), narrower terms (more specific) and related terms, which can be used to search in the database.