Introduction
This e-learning was developed by the UvA Library to support students in the area of information literacy. You can use it for all questions related to searching, finding and using scientific information.
You will learn:
- to formulate a good search question;
- how to come up with good search terms;
- how to find the right sources;
- search techniques and search methods;
- evaluate the information you found;
- and process this information correctly.
You can go through this systematically, module by module, or go directly to one of the topics through this A-Z list.
_______________________________
This e-learning is also available in Dutch. Deze e-learning is ook beschikbaar in het Nederlands
Define your problem
Introduction
The search process
When looking for information for an assignment or project, sometimes you don't know where to start. There is so much information available in so many different places that it is easy to get lost. Therefore, start working in a structured way according to a fixed step-by-step plan. This saves time and often produces better search results.
The search process here is divided into the following steps:
- Define information problem
- Devise search terms
- Select information sources
- Find information
- Make your selection
- Process results
Defining the information problem: the first step
The first step is perhaps the most important. You define what you want to know and translate it into a research question. This question is the starting point and foundation of your search. With a complex research question, you formulate sub-questions, which deal with partial aspects of your research question. It is often necessary to break down a sub-question into a number of search questions. In this section you will learn how to do that and what to look for when formulating a good research question.
Simple and complex questions
You may encounter different types of questions, ranging from simple look-up questions to complex research questions. Roughly speaking, you can distinguish between three types of questions.
Factual (research) question
This is a focused, simple question; you are looking for an unambiguous factual answer. Simple does not always mean that the answer is easy to find. It is important to get the facts right. Choosing a good reliable source of information is therefore essential.
Example:
What percentage of the Dutch population is unemployed?
Orientation question
With a question for orientation on your topic you do not search very specifically. You explore your subject in a broad sense to get a clearer idea of what you really want to investigate. You want to get a global picture, the question is general in nature. You will also explore some partial aspects.
Example:
You want to investigate the influence of media. You do feel that the topic is very broad. Your orientation questions will be, for example:
- What is known about media influence?
- What is known about different types of media?
As your picture becomes clearer, your orientation questions will also become somewhat more specific.
Research question
A research question is more complex. You are doing more in-depth research and the question is more specific. To answer the question properly, you will need to formulate sub-questions.
For a research question, use a step-by-step plan; a structured approach is important to achieve good results.
Example:
How does media affect youth socialization?
Clarify assignment
Your search for information often begins with an assignment. It is important to make that assignment clear to yourself: what exactly is the purpose and what result is expected?
So first you look at what you need information for (information needs) and what the frameworks are. This allows you to quickly determine how global or in-depth you are going to search. Consider the following points:
What is the context in which you are looking for information?
Are you working on a major research project or do you need to look something up for an internship assignment?
What are the learning objectives for the assignment?
Is the goal to be able to conduct a thorough (literature) research or is it about getting acquainted with a subject?
What will you be assessed on? What are the requirements for your research?
This could include requirements for the use of sources.
What is your target audience [if publication is the goal]?
Are you writing for academics or high school students? Are they peers or not?
How comprehensive should your research paper be?
For a detailed report, you will do more in-depth research than for a short report.
How much time and what resources do you have?
Do you have to submit a report within three weeks or do you have three months? What sources do you have access to?
Orientation
Once the outline and framework of your assignment are clear, explore the possibilities of your topic. Search broadly for information about your subject, let yourself be guided by information you find. During this exploratory search phase, you will get an increasingly clear picture of your topic. This will help you delineate your topic and eventually formulate specific search questions.
To orient yourself on your topic you can:
- use a search engine;
- consult an encyclopedia;
- read textbooks and introductory textbooks;
- read news articles for trends and current events;
- use hyperlinks to view related websites;
- use citation tracking to view related documents;
- consult experts.
During the orientation phase, you often encounter subject terminology and English terms. This too can help you find good search terms. Make a note of these terms. (See devise search terms). In addition, you often find literature references that can further help you find new sources. Write these down as well.
Nice to know: Mindmap
Making a mind map can help you with your orientation to the topic. When you make a mind map, in the middle you place the topic your research should be about. Around it you put words that come to mind when you think about the topic.
A mind map gives a good overview of all kinds of aspects of your topic. This makes the choice for your final angle a lot easier. If your (preliminary) subject is already more specific, a mind map can help you determine main, sub- and search questions.
You can work out a mind map on paper, or you can use specialized Software for it.
Search Log
To structure your desk research and carry it out systematically, it is good to keep track of how and where you have already searched. It is useful to know what sources and combinations of words you have searched in. In a search log you can record this information in an organized manner.
Download a search log
NOG DOEN
Download een zoeklogboek voor eenvoudig probleem
Download een zoeklogboek voor uitgebreid zoekproces
Delineating your subject
After your orientation, you will have a better idea of the possibilities of your topic. Determine which aspects of the subject you will and will not cover. This will prevent your subject from becoming too broad and getting lost in the search for information.
You can also delineate your topic by choosing a particular time period or, for example, a country or language to focus on.
Delineating in social science
The following aspects can also help to further focus your research question:
- What research population are you interested in? Or in the case of qualitative research; who are the informants?
- In experimental research, there is usually a dependent and an independent variable. So what is the effect of variable x on outcome y? Or what is the correlation between x and y?
- In what context does your research question apply? For example, are you interested in collaborating within a company or collaborating with volunteers? Is it about a school or a hospital, or something else?
Main question
The main question is the central research question and corresponds to or is directly derived from the problem statement. This question is the starting point of your search. The main question describes exactly what you want to know and gives direction to your search. It is therefore important to formulate your question well.
A good question can be recognized by the following aspects:
- The question is clear. The terms in the question are also clear. With a vague question you can go either way.
- The question is specific. You want to be able to search specifically. With a general, broad, ill-defined question you will quickly get lost in a mass of information.
- The question is relevant. The answer to the question must contribute directly to solving your "information problem" and achieving your objective.
- The question is asked "open-ended." Thus, it is not a question to which only "yes" or "no" can be the answer.
- It is possible to find an answer within the time available.
- The means to find the answer are adequate.
- Only when you have formulated a specific question that gives direction to the search process and makes clear exactly what you want to know can you search in a focused and effective way.
Example:
Bad question: Are there problems in child care?
- It is closed, only "yes" or "no" is possible.
- it is vague and not specific: with "problems in childcare" you can go either way
- the question (if open-ended) is too broad, not focused and probably not answerable in the time available.
Better question: what is the effect of feedback training on the interaction skills of pedagogical staff in childcare?
- it is open-ended
- it is quite specific by choosing a type of intervention, a study population and an outcome measure
- the question is answerable; obviously depending on your available time
Sub- and search questions
For more complex problems, it is necessary to divide your main question into a number of sub-questions. These sub-questions relate to aspects of your main question. Zooming in on the partial aspects makes answering your main question more manageable. All sub-questions together directly answer your main question.
Example
Main question:
What is the relationship between victimization of child sexual abuse and substance abuse in early adulthood
Possible sub-questions:
- What is the relationship between child sexual abuse and alcohol abuse?
- What is the relationship between child sexual abuse and marijuana abuse?
You can see that a simple-looking question can generate many sub-questions and search questions. It quickly becomes more complex than you think. If you don't have enough time or resources, try delineating your question even more or consider another topic.
Summary
Preparation is often the most difficult part of your search for information. Getting this right will greatly benefit you in the rest of the search process. That is why it is important to have a clear idea of exactly what you want to know before you start your search.
First you orient yourself on your subject. Then you formulate a clear main question and possibly a number of subquestions. To answer these, you formulate search questions. Only when these questions are clear can you come up with concrete search terms that will allow you to search faster, more efficiently and more effectively!
Devise search terms
Introduction
After defining the information problem and formulating search questions, you start coming up with search terms. Using the right search terms is very important. You may be used to entering some terms in the search bar. If you do not immediately find the information you are looking for that way, you may mistakenly think the information is not there. By coming up with search terms in a structured way before searching, your search results will be much better.
Note: Search terms are part of your search plan, the plan you make before you start searching. A search plan consists of: search question, search terms, sources of information and search method.
Think up terms
During the problem analysis, if necessary, you divided the main question into a number of sub-questions and translated them into search questions.
An effective way of searching is the "building block method." You first divide your (search) question into a number of components. On that basis, you devise specific search terms with which to search.
Example:
You are looking for literature on food in retirement homes. Your question is: What is the influence of food on the social well-being of elderly people in nursing homes?
The main components of this question are:
- Nutrition
- Elderly people (in nursing homes)
- Social well-being
For each of the components come up with different search terms.
| nutrition |
elderly people (in nursing homes) |
social well-being |
| food |
aged |
quality of life |
| breakfast |
elderly |
social |
| menu |
dementia |
well-being |
| appetite |
nursing home |
loneliness |
| vegetables |
geriatric |
tasty |
| eating |
etc |
etc |
| etc |
|
|
When thinking of search terms, you can think of:
| |
examples |
| compounds |
field work
fieldwork
|
| specific terms |
food
fruit
vegetables
breakfast
|
| spelling variants |
80 year old
eighty year old
behavior
behaviour
|
| synonyms |
old age
geriatric
elderly
mild cognitive impairment
dementia
food
eating
|
| inflections |
feeding
foods
|
| translations |
vieillesse
bejaarden
Alter
|
| abbreviate or not |
end-of-life
EoL
|
| antonyms (words with opposite meanings) |
social
well-being
loneliness
tasty
bland
|
Tips for search terms
Scientists and other professionals use professional terms in their publications. If you don't know these terms, you can easily miss important publications. Also keep in mind that the language of communication in the scientific community is English.
- Review some scientific publications or professional publications on your topic to find out specific subject terms.
- Look for specific (subject) terms by trying out some search terms you already have. Search the results for new search terms. You can use citation tracking for this purpose.
Tools: dictionaries and thesauri
If you are not yet versed in the terminology of your subject you can use a number of resources when coming up with search terms:
Dictionaries
- General dictionaries
- Translation dictionaries (if you are searching in another language)
- General translation dictionaries such as the Van Dale Dictionaries
- The translation function in Google or online dictionaries
- Wikipedia
Thesauri
A thesaurus is also called a synonym book. It is a publication used in a similar way to a dictionary, but for looking up synonyms. During your studies, the following two digital thesauri are of interest:
You can use the thesaurus function in MS Word while writing your report. This is under the "Review" tab.
A thesaurus belonging to a database. Subject-specific databases are particularly interesting for this purpose. For more information see thesaurus.
Summary
In this module, you learned why good search terms are important. You now know how to break down your search query into components and what to look for when coming up with search terms.
Select information sources
Introduction
What kinds of information are there and where can you find it? Not all information is suitable for all purposes. Sometimes you want to know about the latest developments in your field, other times you need figures to back up your report.
All this information can be found in different sources. There are sources of information with only scientific articles, but also sources with newspaper articles or statistics.
Before you start searching, therefore, it is good to have an idea of the different types of information and corresponding sources. Do you have an overview of the range of sources? Then you can make a list for yourself of relevant sources for your specific search question. This is what you will eventually work with. To help you get started, the information is categorized in three ways.
- Type of database
- Level
- Content
Type of database
There are several types of databases suitable for searching for information as part of your education. Below is an overview of the main categories to help you make this choice.
Catalogs
A catalog is basically an inventory of the materials a library owns. The advantage a catalog therefore is that you can read everything you find with the catalog. In fact, this is not always the case with subject-specific databases and citation databases.
The University of Amsterdam's library catalog is called CatalogPlus. This contains not only books but also online journal articles, which are tailored to UvA education and research. So these sources will often be scholarly, but keep in mind that this is not always true. Not everything that is interesting for teaching and research is always scholarly.
Subject-specific databases
These databases are also called bibliographies because they contain a collection of literature on a particular subject. For example, PsycINFO is a database that specializes in the area of behavior and Sociological Abstracts contains mostly articles from sociology and related sciences such as anthropology. In CatalogPlus, you can see what databases exist in your field.
The quality of the literature in these databases is generally good. Social science databases contain almost only scholarly literature, and almost all of them have the ability to search only for peer-reviewed publications. Subject-specific databases are also very useful if you are in the process of orienting yourself to a new subject, especially if you are in the process of coming up with search terms, because these databases contain subject terminology and subject-specific keywords.
Citation databases
The final category of databases that is interesting to search in are citation databases such as Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. When you look up an article in these databases, you can see how often and by whom the article is cited. This is also called citation tracking. It is also possible in Web of Science and Scopus to filter by number of citations so you can quickly see who the most influential authors are on a particular topic.
Journals that are in Web of Science and Scopus are always peer reviewed. This is because they are only included in these databases if they are influential (meaning articles from these journals are, on average, highly cited). This is not the case with Google Scholar, so here you will have to pay even closer attention to whether the sources you find are also of sufficient quality.
Level
Scholarly information is published in academic journals or books, often in English. What distinguishes scholarly information from other forms of information is that it is published by and for academics/scientists.
An article from a scientific journal is structured according to the same format:
- abstract
- research question
- theoretical framework
- method of research
- result
- conclusion
- bibliography
Scholarly journals often involve peer review. This means that prior to publication, the article is reviewed by two or more scientists who specialize in the subject of the article. They assess the article and the research described in it for quality, originality, reliability and validity.
With books, it is a little more difficult to assess whether you are dealing with a scholarly publication. Usually we then look at the publisher of the book (e.g. University presses) and whether the author and target audience are scholars. See assessing books what else to look for.
Peer review can also be involved with books. We then talk about edited volumes or edited books. An edited volume is a book with chapters written by different scientists. One or more scholars then provide the peer review as editor.
Subject-oriented information is specialized information in a particular field. The content focuses on practical applications and is written for professional practice. The language ranges from simple to complex, but is always focused on the field of study. Magazines with subject oriented information are also called professional journals. Examples of professional magazines are Advertising Age and Chemical Week.
General interest information is information on a variety of topics and written for a wide audience. The language is simpler and source citations are infrequent. Consider a magazine such as the Quest or the National Geographic. These magazines may contain articles on scientific topics or written by scientists, but because of the wide target audience, the label general interest applies.
Content
Topical information
Topical information addresses recent developments and is designed to keep you informed of what is currently going on in a particular field. You can find this information in newspapers, magazine articles and on websites. These sources are good at keeping up with and describing the latest developments. It is important that you pay attention to reliability.
A good source for news is the Nexis Uni database. You can find international and national newspapers and see if any news has been published on your topic.
Background information
It is important to know exactly what a field of study entails and what relevant terms and theories mean. This is background information that can be found in (text) books. Knowledge of a subject makes the search process easier (see orientation).
Books are increasingly available in digital form. You can find these through CataloguePlus, or search a database of e-books.
Factual information
Sometimes you just need to know facts, for example to supplement your report. This can be data about a company, statistical data, or concrete facts. You can find this information in databases, encyclopedias and dictionaries.
A number of databases contain specific, factual information. OECD iLibrary is from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for Europe, and includes statistics for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Statline contains data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), and Nexis Uni also contains business information. An encyclopedia can also be a handy start.
Research results
Research results can be results of experiments, but also descriptions, theoretical calculations, models and computer simulations, and reports of practical applications. Results should be objective and independent.
Research results are mainly found in scientific journal articles but also in books, dissertations and reports.
Summary
Information comes in different shapes and sizes.
For example, you can classify information according to its target audience: some publications are intended for science, while others target a wider audience. During your studies, scientific information will be particularly important. For this scientific information, the library has a selection of databases that differ in terms of availability, coverage and quality of information. Finally, the content of the information is also important to your search process. Are research findings and background information sufficient for your report, or do you also need news reports and statistics?
Search information
Introduction
You have your search questions and search terms listed and you have chosen your sources of information. Now you can really start searching. In this module you will learn a number of techniques to search more effectively:
- Combine & exclude
- Exact phrase
- Trunking
- Masking with wildcards
- Using keywords
- Citation tracking
Finally, you'll get an overview of tips to improve your search results. What can you do if you have too few good results? What can you do if you have too many results?
Look carefully at the different options before you start searching. The search options determine the way you search.
Simple or advanced search
Most databases and search engines have a simple search bar on their home page. In this search bar you can enter a single search term, or you can combine search terms, for example:
school AND amsterdam
Usually there are also more extensive options. These can be found under advanced search. This is also called advanced search or multi-field search.
With advanced search you can formulate your search query much more precisely, combine or exclude terms. You can enter more search terms at once, in different search fields.
Example: Advanced search in CataloguePlus
SEARCH TECHNIQUES
Illustration by Jurriaan Gorter, published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Netherlands license
When you start searching with a search engine or in a database, you often just type in some words. For simple questions, you will usually find the answer you are looking for that way. However, this is often not enough.
Use the extra features that search engines and databases offer you and you will get a much better result.
Because a search engine or database does not understand "ordinary human language," you have to adapt the search query.
You will learn in this module a number of techniques you can use to do this.
... Combining words
Relationships between search terms
If you are going to search with multiple terms at once, you need to specify exactly what the relationship between the search terms is..There are three basic relationships between search terms:
Both terms must appear in the search result (AND), for example soccer AND Amsterdam
At least one of the terms must occur (OR), for example soccer OR tennis
This is also useful for synonyms, e.g. children OR kids
One term must be excluded (NOT), e.g. reading NOT disorder
Graphically, the relationships between search terms are shown like this:
Sometimes you have to indicate the relationship between search terms yourself by typing AND, OR and NOT between the search terms. In Dutch-language databases you may have to use EN, OF and NIET.
In most databases and search engines you will find a search form in Advanced Search where you can choose one of these options. Often you can also combine the different options.
Example with Web of Science
You are looking for information on the influence of social media on young people. You want to look up publications that contain both terms.
Suddenly you realize that adolescents is an important alternative term for teenagers. You adjust your search so that the term social media appears in combination with at least one of the terms teenagers or adolescents.
Note: If you combine with both AND and OR then you must place the OR combination within one search field in most advanced search forms (above image). If you don't, the search engine won't know which search terms to combine first and you won't always get the results you want.
Right now, you're not interested in articles about marketing. You want to find articles about social media combined with the terms teenagers or adolescents, but without the terms marketing or advertising.
Your search command results in:
(food OR breakfast OR appetite OR eating OR menu OR vegetables) AND (aged OR elderly OR dementia OR "nursing home") AND ("quality of life" OR social OR well-being OR loneliness OR tasty)
Nice to know: Nesting terms
In many databases and some search engines you can also formulate more complex searches: by nesting terms. To indicate what to combine with AND and what to combine with OR and in what order, you can nest terms. You do this using round brackets.
Example:
If you search for
social media AND (teenagers OR adolescents)
you will find documents about teenagers and/or adolescents and social media.
If you remove the parentheses
social media AND teenagers OR adolescents
you not only get documents on social media and teenagers, but also documents on adolescents without social media in them.
Combine sets
In come up with search terms, you have seen that each search query consists of more components. For each component, you created a set of appropriate search terms.
The sets consist of word variants, such as translations and synonyms. You connect the terms within a set with OR, because you want to find at least one of these variants. You connect the sets themselves with AND, because you want to find all of them.
In this example, we combine variants of the terms for elderly with variants of the terms for nutrition and its social aspects. This is a schematic representation of this search query:
Je zoekopdracht wordt dus:
... Exact phrase
Combining words using quotation marks
Sometimes you want to search for an exact word combination.
You can put word combinations or whole sentences between quotation marks. This combination or sentence must then appear exactly as it appears in the document you are looking for. This is very useful if you are searching for a name or a compound term.
Caution! You may miss articles that are about your topic. For example, you search for the exact word combination
"online lecture"
With this combined, you won't find articles with
"lecture in an online learning environment"
You do find those articles with the search
online AND lecture
You can also specify that search terms must occur a certain distance apart. That can make a huge difference in the noise between your results.
Nice to know: proximity operators
To make sure you only find documents where your search terms are close together, you can use so-called proximity or adjacency operators. How this works varies by database. Below are the most common ones:
NEAR/x
| example |
online NEAR/3 lecture |
| explanation |
There is a maximum of three words between online and lecture. You can change this number by changing the number |
| databases |
Web of Science and all Proquest databases such as Sociological Abstracts and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts |
| word order |
In Proquest databases use PRE/x if word order is important. |
ADJx
| example |
online ADJ3 lecture |
| explanation |
There are a maximum of two words between "online" and "lecture" (the last word is included, so you end up with ADJ3). You can change this number by changing the number |
| databases |
Ovid databases such as PsycINFO, Medline and ERIC |
Nx
| example |
online N3 lecture |
| explanation |
There are up to three words between 'online' and 'lecture'. You can change this number by changing the number |
| databases |
EBSCO databases such as Anthropology Plus, Academic Search Premier and CINAHL |
| word order |
If word order is important use W |
Check a database's manual for more information.
... Trunking
If you want to find word variants or both singular and plural, you can replace the end of a search word with a character. This is called truncation. The characters you use for this are called wildcard or joker and are usually an asterisk (*) or a question mark (?).
The effect of trunking depends on where in the word you are trunking.
In the example, you will find far fewer publications with childbirth* than with child*, but they are more specific. Because if your topic is birth, you probably won't be interested in articles about all children.
The character you use to truncate may vary from database to database. Sometimes the number of characters replaced with one character also differs. More information about this can always be found in the help of the relevant database.
Trunking within a word is called masking.
... Masking
Not only at the end, but also within keywords, you can replace one or more letters with a character. This is called masking. The characters you use for this are called wildcard or joker. Usually this is a question mark (?) or a hash (#), but this can vary from database to database. Also, the number of characters replaced by one wildcard or joker can vary from database to database. Check the help file of the relevant database for this.
Masking can be useful if you are in doubt about the spelling of a word or if the spelling may vary.
Examples
|
Globalization
Globalisation
|
Globali?ation
|
|
Behaviour
Behavior
|
Behavio?r
|
|
Colour
Color
|
Col?r |
Globalization
Globalization
Behavior
Behaviour
Color
Color
Old and new spelling: c or k? A?tie
Action Research
Action Research
Between N? Panne?koek
Pancake
Pancake
| Engelse en Amerikaanse spelling |
Globali?ation
Behavio?r
Col?r
|
Globalisation
Globalization
Behavior
Behaviour
Color
Colour
|
| Oude en nieuwe spelling: c of k? |
A?tie |
Actieonderzoek
Aktieonderzoek
|
| Wel of geen tussen N? |
Panne?koek |
Pannekoek
Pannenkoek
|
... Keywords
In library catalogs and databases, you often encounter keywords. In English, these are usually called keywords or subject headings. They are added to the description of a publication to increase the chance that you will find it. For example, if the title of a book does not accurately describe what it is about, a keyword can help you find the book anyway.
Example from CataloguePlus
Conversely, you can also use this knowledge when looking for synonyms and related search terms. If you don't have good search terms yet, but already have a publication that covers the subject matter well, take a look at the publication's keywords in a database so you can use that information to improve your search. Many databases have a keyword list or index where you can find all the keywords used.
Some databases have a thesaurus. In it you can also see the interrelationships between keywords and topics.
... Different search entries
All information about publications in library catalogs and databases is stored in records. Each record has separate fields for title, author, keywords, year of publication, etc. You can search each field separately. The fields are therefore called search entries.
Usually you type your search in the first search bar you come across (simple search or basic search). You search all the fields at once. In full-text files, such as Nexis Uni, you even search the entire text of the document.
This can be useful, but often produces many irrelevant hits. It is better to choose a specific search entry. In databases and catalogs, an advanced or multifield search usually includes a search form where you can easily choose your search entry.
Example Sociological Abstracts
Suppose you are looking for publications on the well-known anthropologist Malinowski:
- in the title ("Swindlers and Liars, the Studies of Malinowski")
- as the author's name ("Bronislaw Malinowski," but also "Nicolas Malinowski")
- in the abstract ("Malinowski's functionalist theory was contrasted with structuralism")
Which is the best option always depends on your research question. In this case, the title search will probably yield the most relevant results, followed by the summary search.
With subject-specific databases, it may be worthwhile to see if there are additional search inputs relevant to your research
... Limitations
Looking for a document in a specific language, from a certain period or in a particular appearance? Limitations can help you with that. You can limit your search result using this kind of data, for example, to:
- peer review or not
- a specific language
- a publication date or period
- material type, for example: journal article, newspaper article, book or audiovisual
Note! The function limits can have different names. Common ones are: limits, refine my results, narrow by and filter. The following database specific limits may also be of interest:
- CataloguePlus: availability of the publication. So online or at a nearby library
- PsycINFO: age groups, research methodology. See also the tutorial Search result refinement
- ERIC: education level. This works the same way as for PsycINFO
- Web of Science and Scopus: filter by subject area after you do a search
... Thesaurus
Many databases have a thesaurus where you can find all the keywords used in that database (see also keywords). You can search here for search terms to supplement your query with. Especially subject-specific databases often have a good thesaurus to help you find search terms.
Example
Suppose you are looking for literature on English language education. Since most of the results you find are about learning English in English-speaking countries, you decide to consult the thesaurus of the educational database ERIC. That one gives you the following suggestions:
If you then click through on one of the suggestions, you are usually shown broader, narrower and related keywords. This functionality is therefore the main difference between a thesaurus and a regular keyword list; in a thesaurus, the keywords have a so-called hierarchical relationship with each other. If you are still in the orientation phase or are in the process of coming up with search terms, this can make a thesaurus especially useful.
If you want to know more about working with the thesaurus, check the help section of the database you want to work with.
SEARCH METHODS
When you start a search, you may first type a few words to see if you can find interesting information quickly. We call this search method quick & dirty.
This often gets you a long way, but there are other ways to search for information.
In this section you will learn some of these methods.
... Citation Tracking
In many publications, both online and in print, you will find a bibliography at the back. In it, the author lists the literature used or makes recommendations for more interesting literature on the topic. This way, you can get on the trail of other useful books or articles. This method is also called backward citation tracking because it allows you to find literature that is older than the article.
In databases such as Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar, you can also see who is referencing an article. This is also called forward citation tracking or snowballing because it allows you to find newer articles than the one you have in front of you. This is a useful search strategy if you have found a source that is relevant but too old.
Example
The bibliography of this article from Web of Science contains 43 references, and there are 732 articles in Web of Science that have this article in their bibliography.
... Expand and limit
In devise search terms, you have seen that each search query consists of more components, and you have created a set of appropriate search terms for each component.
Adding components (with AND) usually makes your results more relevant, while adding synonyms and related terms (with OR) makes you find more relevant results. This can have a big effect on your results.
Example from Web of Science
| Search Terms |
Results |
| food AND elderly |
5,125 |
food AND elderly AND "well-being" |
162 |
| eating AND elderly AND social |
172 |
| (food OR eating) AND (elderly OR dementia) AND ("well being" OR "quality of life" OR social) |
583 |
As you can see, a lot of combinations are possible. In practice, it will always be a matter of trying out what works and what does not. Therefore, take a critical look at your results and adjust your search query accordingly.
Expanding search terms
You simply start by typing in one search term. Chances are you will get too many results, many of which are also irrelevant. By adding a second search term, you are already searching more specifically. Keep doing this until you get to a point where the result list looks good at first glance. Then, if it turns out that you have very few articles, see which components it makes sense to add synonyms and related search terms.
Limiting search terms
This search method works the other way around. You start with a large number of search terms that you think should all appear in your search results. You put them all sequentially in the search window. Then look at your results to see if there are any words among them that cause a lot of noise and remove them. If you have very few results, you can also consider not using all the components.
Search History
A fine tool for expanding and narrowing search terms is search history. Using the search history, you can build a search query step-by-step by first working out the individual components and then starting to see what combinations yield.
Example PsycINFO
If you don't see a search history feature, check the help file for the particular database. Keep in mind that not all databases have a search history feature.
...Pearl-growing
Pearl-growing is good to use in the orientation phase when you don't know the right search terms. You start a search and then see if the (list of) results, the Web sites or documents themselves, contain different and perhaps better search terms.
Example from Web of Science:
You found the article below during your search for literature on the social aspects of nutrition in the elderly. As you can see, this article contains many possible search terms tha
In Web of Science and Scopus, you can also sort your results by number of citations. The most cited author on a topic is also likely to be an important author within the relevant field. Use the author name in the Author field to search further for publications.
Improve search results
Too few search results?
If the result of your search is too limited, there could be several reasons.
Did you choose the right source?
Use a different database if necessary.
Is it due to your search query?
Check your search query and adjust it if necessary.
- Formulate your question differently.
- Check if all components are needed.
- It could also be that there is little or no information on your subject and you should choose another subject.
Use different or less specific search terms.
- Check your search terms, for example, have you translated your terms correctly and have you also considered synonyms and spelling variations?
- In a subject-specific database you may need to search with different terms than in a general database.
- Note! Using less specific search terms will increase the amount of hits, but may lower the proportion of relevant hits.
Specify fewer limitations.
- Articles from the last two years may be most appropriate, but perhaps a lot was published on your topic in the years before that.
- Don't limit yourself to Dutch-language publications. Much more is published in English.
Too many search results?
If you find too much non-relevant information, there are several ways to adjust your search:
Did you choose the right source?
If you used a general database, try a subject-specific database.
Is it because of your search query?
Check your search question and adjust it if necessary:
- isn't your research question too broad?
- see if you can add any components in a meaningful way
Use different or more specific search terms.
Narrow your search using exact phrase or a proximity operator.
Specify limitations:
- delimit by certain publication types or by publication date
- choose a particular search entry, such as search by author or title
Summary
In this module, you learned techniques that allow you to search efficiently in your chosen information sources.
You now know how to combine keywords with AND, OR and NOT and include spelling variants through trunking and masking. You have learned how to search with exact expressions and you can make smart use of the various search inputs in a database.
You also learned a number of methods to look up more recent or better literature based on your search result. You do this by using literature references and citations and varying the number of keywords. This all depends, of course, on the capabilities of the various databases.
In any case, being able to perform advanced searches is important!
Make your selection
Introduction
During your search, you find all kinds of information. Of this, you want to use only relevant and reliable sources. But how do you determine this? In this module we give you guidelines for evaluating different sources.
The main criteria for evaluating publications are:
Relevance: The extent to which the information contributes to answering the (research) question.
When assessing, you pay attention to:
- Content and level
- Form
- Topicality
Reliability: the extent to which you can trust that the information is correct.
In the assessment you will pay attention to:
- the source (author/organization) and creation of the document
- content: it is about accuracy, objectivity, verifiability and quality of information source
Relevance
Relevance is the extent to which the information contributes to answering the research question. This includes both main, partial and search questions. You assess the information and sources of information found according to content, form and topicality.
Content and level of information
Connection of information to question and purpose
- Does the information answer your (research) question?
- Does the information reflect the general picture or does it deal with exceptions or specific areas?
- Do the quality and level of information match your question and purpose? If you are researching depression, an article from Libelle or Quote will not have the required level of quality. Articles from professional magazines or even scientific journals are then more appropriate (see choose sources of information).
- Completeness: Have you not overlooked any relevant information and have you considered all selected opinions? Completeness is often neither possible nor necessary
Form of information
Does the type of information source (book, article, dissertation, etc.) fit your information needs?
If you are looking for background information, you may be better off consulting a book or website than reading an in-depth research article. For writing a lighthearted article in Folia, you will not be so quick to study dissertations (see choose sources of information).
Topicality
This word is usually used for recent events or developments. To determine if information is current, you look to see if the information from a particular year is still true to the current situation. Sometimes certain information does not change. An older book or article may still be current. Publications that continue to hold their value are called core publications. Usually it is important to find current information, but not always. A historian will mainly look for old, often not current information. So it depends on (research) question and purpose.
Reliability
This refers to the degree to which you can trust that the information is accurate. To what extent is the information credible? To what extent is the information objective? You can judge the reliability of information by:
Authority of source (author/organization) and creation of document
- Is the author an authority? Is he a recognized author in his field? For which organization does he work? What is known about the author?
- Is it a reputable organization? Who is the website owner? A paper or website from a respected well-known organization is generally more trustworthy than that of a vague foundation with dubious or unclear objectives
- Is there sponsorship of author or organization? Sponsorship need not be a problem, but be aware that commercial interests may be involved.
- Is there quality control? If so, is there an editorial board? Are articles peer-reviewed? Especially with peer review, there is a high degree of reliability because several experts/scientists have already critically assessed such an article
Correctness
- Are the facts correct? Check if they are confirmed in another source. Note that if you keep seeing the literal text, then the information has been cut and pasted and it is unlikely that the creators of the website checked the information.
- Are opinions supported by facts?
- Does the information come from a primary source or second hand?
Objectivity
- What is the purpose of the information? Is the purpose informational, opinion formation, propaganda, etc.?
- Is it about (hard) facts or opinions?
- Is the subject highlighted from multiple angles?
Quality of information source
Does the information source look professional?
Verifiability
Is there source citation? What is the quality of those sources? Is it verifiable that information is accurate and complete?
Assessing books
How do you determine the value of a book? Books on your book list have already been reviewed by your course. Probably the author is well known and appreciated and this book fits perfectly with the lessons. But how do you evaluate a book yourself? As mentioned earlier, you pay attention to relevance and reliability.
Relevance
Connection to question and purpose
- Does the information fit the questions you have and/or the target audience you are writing for?
- Is a book as an information medium appropriate for your information needs?
- Does the book present a general picture?
- Does the level meet your requirements? Also pay attention to authority here.
Completeness
- Does the book give a complete picture or are more sources needed?
Topicality
- Is current information relevant to your research?
- What is the year of publication?
- Is this the most recent printing?
- Could you expect more recent developments in the meantime?
- If other sources were referenced, how recent are they?
Reliability
Authority
- Who is the author and what authority does this person have?
- What is the author's background and this one has published something before?
- Is there an editor or editors?
- With what intention did the author write the book?
Correctness
- Are the facts in the book correct?
- Are opinions supported by facts?
Objectivity
- Is the information presented objectively?
- Does the book contain mostly facts or opinions?
- What is the purpose of the book? Informative, opinionated, entertainment....
Book quality
- Does the book look professional? Who published it?
- Did the author use scholarly sources? A book with a short bibliography without scholarly sources is probably not appropriate
Verifiability
- Are the facts or data verifiable?
- Are the source citations correct? What are the sources?
Example
You are writing a report on tourism. You found the 2021 book An introduction to the geography of tourism by Velvet Nelson.
Relevance
- This overview book explains concepts and theories. Several chapters and sections fit well with your questions. The level also fits well.
- The information in the book seems quite complete and provides a lot of background information.
Reliability
- The author is a scholar assigned to a university. She has written several books and articles and is well cited by others. The book itself has also been cited a number of times.
- It is a textbook, written specifically for students. That is not a bad thing, but be sure to include other sources in your report that are more geared toward other scholars. The publisher is not a very well-known publisher, but it is an academic publisher. If you look on their website, one of the things you will see is that they work with universities, and the formatting and layout of the book also look professional.
- The bibliography looks thorough with books from scholarly publishers, and recent peer reviewed articles. This list is referenced in the text, so checking the text is possible.
Conclusion
It is on all counts a good book to use.
Assessing articles
Assessing an article is very similar to reviewing a book. The main difference is that the research questions addressed in an article are often more specific than in a book.
Relevance
Connection to question and purpose
- Does the information answer the questions you have?
- Does the information match the questions you have and/or the target audience you are writing for?
- Does an article as a form of information match your information needs?
Completeness
- Does the article give a complete picture. Are more sources needed?
Topicality
- Given your research, how current should the information be?
- What is the year of publication?
- Can you expect more recent developments in the meantime?
- If other sources are referenced; how recent are they?
Reliability
Authority
- Who is the author and what authority does he or she have?
- What is the author's background?
- Has the author published anything before?
- Does the author belong to a research institution or organization?
- With what intention did the author write the article?
- Has the article undergone peer review?
- Is the article cited by other scientists?
Correctness
- Are the facts in the article correct?
- Are opinions substantiated?
Objectivity
- Is the information presented objectively
- Does the article contain mostly facts or opinions?
- What is the purpose of the article? Informational, opinion, entertainment, commercial....
Journal quality
- How does it look, by whom is it published?
Verifiability
- Are the facts or data verifiable?
- Are the source citations correct? What are the sources?
Assessing websites
Anyone can publish on the Internet. That means there is a lot of reliable but also a lot of unreliable information out there. There is often no quality control by an editor or peers. So when you get information from the Internet, you have to be extra critical (see choose sources of information).
Commercial interests may play a role on the Internet. Therefore, you should pay close attention to the independence of websites.
Relevance
- Connection to question and purpose
- Does the information answer the questions you have?
- Does the information match the questions you have and/or the target audience you are writing for?
- Does the information on the website present a general picture?
- Is a website or article on that site an appropriate source for your research?
Completeness
- Does the information found present a complete picture. Are more sources needed?
Timeliness
- Given your research, how current should the information be?
- When was the text posted online?
- When was the site last updated?
- Could you expect more recent developments by now?
- If other sources were referenced, how recent are they?
Reliability
Authority
- Is it clear who wrote the information? What authority does this person have?
- What is the author's background and has the author published anything before?
- Was the website created by an individual or commissioned by an organization or company?
- Does it contain contact information? Is there any mention of the purpose and creation of the website?
Correctness
- Are the facts correct?
- Are opinions supported by facts and/or references?
Objectivity
- Is the information presented objectively?
- Does the information contain mostly facts or opinions?
- What is the purpose of the website? Informational, opinion, entertainment, commercial....
- What interests do the authors have? If you want to check this, search the website for sections such as About this site, Disclaimer or Colophon. You can also get information from the web address:
- .org = nonprofit organization
- .gov = government
- .edu or .ac.uk = education (education, often a university)
- .com = company (businesses, commercial)
- .info = for companies (non-profit or commercial)
- members.chello.nl/ ; geocities.com/users/ (personal)
Website quality
- Does the website look professional, do the hyperlinks work, are there many errors?
Verifiability
- Are the facts or data verifiable?
- Are there professional organizations/websites that link to this site? Many search engines have the ability to look this up.
- Are the source citations correct? What are the sources?
Summary
Look critically and systematically at the information you find. Evaluate not only the individual articles, books and websites you find, but also try to assess whether your search was good.
Relevance
Relevance is the extent to which the information is applicable to your report.
- Does the information answer (part of) your question?
- Is this the best form of information to answer the question?
- Does the information connect well with the target audience?
Reliability
The degree to which you can trust that the information is correct.
If multiple sources confirm the information, this is a sign that the information is probably correct. When a source does not seem reliable, you can do two things:
Consider not using this source.
Post a critical comment.
Topicality
A current book or article need not always be recent. Core publications retain their value over the years.
Process your results
Introduction
You may use any information found in other publications for your studies. Not only information from books and articles, but also information from websites. If you do this, it is important that you acknowledge sources.
Source citation
What is source citation?
- In the source citation (also called literature reference or reference) you indicate where you found the information: in which book or journal article, or on which website.
- Always use a citation style such as APA, Chicago or Vancouver.
Why cite sources?
- It should be clear what your own ideas are and what you have read from someone else. See also plagiarism.
- The reader should be able to check where you got the information.
- The use of appropriate sources increases the quality of your report and therefore its credibility.
How do you incorporate a source?
- In your text, include a brief reference to the source. This consists of: author name, year of publication and sometimes page number.
- Referring in the text itself can be done in two ways: quoting or paraphrasing. Quoting is a literal copying of a text. Paraphrasing is representing a text in your own words.
- At the end of your report, include a list of all the sources you used: the bibliography or reference list.
- The bibliography contains at least the following items for each publication: author + year + title. See further Literature List.
Examples (APA style):
Quotation:
“Since 2001, the number of girls that follow a technical education has increased.” (Jansen, 2004, p.32).
Paraphrase:
Jansen (2004) writes that since 2001 an increasing number of girls partake in a technical education.
Put a full acknowledgement of this source in your bibliography:
Jansen, N. (2004). Trend analysis of gender in higher technical education. Amsterdam: VHTO.
Copyright
What is copyright?
A creator of a publication is the owner of the ideas it contains. He owns the intellectual property and the right to distribute those ideas: copyright.
Copyright is the right of the creator of a work of literature, science or art to determine how, where and when his work is published or reproduced.
(Source: Wikipedia, April 11, 2011)
What is allowed? What is not allowed?
You must respect the rights of the creator. So if you want to use someone else's ideas, you must have permission to do so.
But you don't always have to ask permission. Sometimes you automatically have permission if you clearly state whose thought or idea it is. For example:
- You may use short passages from other texts in your own text: quoting.
- You may retell short passages from other texts in your own words and use them in your own text: paraphrasing.
Images
Notice! Copyright also applies to images. You may not just use images of others. To use images you also need the permission of the creator. And you must mention the source.
Sanctions
If you violate someone else's copyright, for example by not citing sources, you run the risk of having your report rejected.
If you pretend to have thought of something yourself when it is someone else's text, you are committing plagiarism. This is punishable. Again, you can expect sanctions. See also plagiarism.
Your own copyright?
If you have published your own text, you own the copyright. Others may use your text, but only under certain conditions.
You automatically own the copyright when your text is published. Your name must appear clearly in the text, but the use of the copyright symbol © is not obligatory.
Rights (and obligations) of authors
A comprehensive website with information about copyright in higher education can be found here: SURFdirect.
Nice to know: CC - Creative Commons
Many authors choose to release their copyright: anyone may use the material without asking permission. This form of information sharing is known as Creative Commons.
However, there are usually conditions attached. For example, in most cases you still have to mention the source, depending on the license the creator has chosen.
See further Creative Commons.
Portrait rights
If you use images that depict people recognizably, you have to deal with portrait rights:
"Portrait law gives individuals the right to oppose publication of their portrait."
(Source: Wikipedia, April 13, 2011)
This includes images in all forms: photographs, drawings, paintings, but also film footage.
So you have to ask permission from the person depicted before you can use the picture.
Rights (and obligations) of authors
A comprehensive website with information on copyright in higher education can be found here: SURFdirect. LOOPT DOOD
Plagiarism
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is using someone else's material and pretending you created it yourself.
Two examples:
- You submit someone else's report and pretend that you are the author.
- You copy someone else's ideas into your own report, and you pretend the ideas are yours.
Plagiarism can also happen by accident. Example: You copied a piece of text from an article or a newspaper and you forget to mention the source. Although this is accidental, it is still plagiarism. So you remain responsible for this.
Not everything is plagiarism. Some things are common knowledge and it is not (or no longer) clear who the originator is. For example, "The earth rotates on its own axis in 24 hours."
This knowledge is so general that there is no need to mention who ever discovered that the earth rotates on its axis in 24 hours.
Note! When in doubt about whether something is general knowledge, always give the source where you found the information.
Plagiarism Scanner
The UvA uses electronic detection programs (Ephorus, Turnitin, Ouriginal) to check what information you wrote yourself and what information was borrowed from other sources. These plagiarism scanners search websites, scholarly articles and student papers for this purpose.
It is usually okay to use information from other sources, but be sure to include a source statement. If you do not include a source citation, you are committing plagiarism.
Many courses have rules regarding the ratio of your own text to the use of other people's texts, for example, "A report should consist of only 10% citations." Keep a close eye on this ratio while writing. In the report from the plagiarism scanner, the teacher can see the ratio exactly.
Sanctions
The reports you write for your studies should reflect your own ideas and opinions. Of course, you may use the information of others. The condition is that you clearly state your sources (see citing sources) and that most of your report consists of your own text.
If you violate someone else's copyright, for example by not citing sources, you run the risk of having your report rejected. In serious cases, you may even be expelled from the program.
Solutions
You can avoid plagiarism. Make sure you pay attention and think carefully while writing about which ideas are your own, which ideas are common knowledge, and which ideas you borrow from someone else. Are you using someone else's material? Always cite the source.
See also source attribution.
Quoting
What is quoting?
Quoting is taking a portion of a text verbatim. This text is usually written by someone else, but you may also quote from your own publications. You must always indicate where the quote comes from: the source citation.
In the text you make a short reference by mentioning author's name, year of publication and page number. The complete citation should be placed in the bibliography at the end of your report. See also bibliography.
How to build a citation?
You must clearly indicate in your text that it is a citation: put the citation between quotation marks.
For APA style, citations longer than 40 words, should be in a so-called Quotation block, without the quotation marks.
Always reproduce the citation in its original language. You may add a translation of the quote after it if you wish. You may also reproduce a citation in your own words: paraphrasing.
Example (APA style):
Jansen says: "Student satisfaction increases when the library is also open on Sundays" (Jansen, 2004, p.32).
Paraphrasing
What is paraphrasing?
Paraphrasing is representing in your own words what someone else has said or written. The paraphrase should always be phrased in the spirit of the original text. See also quoting. It should be clear what you are saying yourself, what the ideas of others are, and what text the paraphrase is based on: the source citation.
In the text, you make a brief reference by mentioning author's name and year of publication. Unlike quoting, paraphrasing does not require a page number. It is allowed.
The complete source should be mentioned in the bibliography at the end of your report. See also bibliography.
Examples (APA style):
Jansen (2004) says that student satisfaction increases when the library is open on Sundays.
According to Jansen (2004), student satisfaction increases when libraries are open on Sundays.
Student satisfaction would increase if libraries are open on Sundays (Jansen, 2004).
When to paraphrase?
You use a paraphrase, for example:
When the original text is too difficult or long for your readers. You then give a simple representation of the text.
If the original text is in another language. You then give a translation of the text.
References
What are references?
References are references to sources, such as a reference to a book or article on a particular topic. Other words for reference are literature reference and source citation. A reference allows you to find a publication easily.
Collecting references
You can collect references in different ways. You can create your own reference using the information you have about the source you want to use, you can take ready-made references from the bibliography of a book or article, and you can create references using databases and/or reference managers.
Where can you find data you can use for your references?
- in the source you are referring to
- in the bibliographies of books and articles that refer to your source
- in catalogs and databases
Pay close attention and copy the data without error. If there are errors in the reference, the reader will not be able to find the correct source.
Also, make sure your references are uniform. Always use the same order, for example:
Brinkman, J. (2011). Figures speak : Persuading with research and statistics. Groningen etc.: Noordhoff.
Reference managers are programs that allow you to easily collect references and then quickly insert them into your paper. The UvA has a subscription to Refworks and also offers Support for it.
Nice to know: RefWorks
With the reference manager RefWorks, you can:
- Keep track of what literature you've read
- Easily create source citations for your report in the appropriate style, such as APA, Chicago or Vancouver
- Easily switch citation styles in your report
You can find more information about RefWorks on the UvA Library website.
Your bibliography
All publications you use must be listed at the back of your article or report in a bibliography: it is also called a bibliography or reference list. A bibliography is a complete list of publications used. For citations and paraphrases in your text, refer to the bibliography. See also quoting and paraphrasing. In a bibliography, the references used are usually sorted by author's last name (APA, Chicago) or by order in the text (Vancouver).
The program RefWorks allows you to easily generate a bibliography to include in the back of your report.
Why a bibliography?
Using the bibliography, a reader of your report can see at a glance which publications you used. The reader can use the bibliography to check what you came up with yourself and what you borrowed from another writer. See also: plagiarism.
With a bibliography, you can also point the reader to other publications on the same topic.
The reverse also applies, of course. If you are looking for information on a subject yourself, it is always useful to go through the bibliography of a book or article.
Design of the bibliography
A bibliography can be designed in different ways. There are different citation styles for this purpose. Within the social sciences, the APA style is mainly used, and sometimes Chicago or Vancouver.
____
Two examples
1. A bibliography formatted according to the APA style:
References
Donvan, J., Zucker, C. (2016). In a different key: the story of autism. New York: Crown Publishers.
Engelhardt, C. R., Mazurek, M. O., Hilgard, J., Rouder, J. N., & Bartholow, B. D. (2015). Effects of Violent-Video-game exposure on aggressive behavior, aggressive-thought accessibility, and aggressive affect among adults with and without autism spectrum disorder. Psychological Science, 26, 1187-1200. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615583038
2. A bibliography formatted according to the Chicago (author-date) style:
References
Donvan, J. and C. Zucker. 2016. In a different key: the story of autism. New York: Crown Publishers.
Engelhardt, Christopher R., Micah O. Mazurek, Joe Hilgard, Jeffrey N. Rouder, and Bruce D. Bartholow. 2015. “Effects of Violent-Video-Game Exposure on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive-Thought Accessibility, and Aggressive Affect Among Adults With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.”Psychological Science" 26:1187-1200. doi:10.1177/0956797615583038.
Examples of references in APA style
In many programs at the UvA, the APA style is used. Therefore, below are some fictitious examples for different types of publications.
Books:
Johnson, J. (2004). The rhetoric of research and statistics. London, University Press.
Robertson, P. (2012). Verbal intelligence: The power of the word. Amsterdam, Scriptum.
May, Y. (2010). History of the world. New York, Contact.
Articles:
McAndrew, F. T., & Jeong, H. S. (2012). Who does what on facebook? Age, sex, and relationship status as predictors of facebook use. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 23592365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.007
Bircher, J. & Wehkamp, K. (2011). Health care needs need to be focused on health. Health, 3, 378-382. https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2011.36064
Appel, M. (2012). Are heavy users of computer games and social media more computer literate? Computers & Education, 59, 1339-1349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.06.004
Websites:
Rubiera, C. (2022). If anxiety is in my brain, why is my heart pounding? A psychiatrist explains the neuroscience and physiology of fear. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/if-anxiety-is-in-my-brain-why-is-my-heart-pounding-a-psychiatrist-explains-the-neuroscience-and-physiology-of-fear-210871
How to Remember Things: 21 Memory Techniques (2015). Retrieved from: https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/how-to-remember-things
More information?
APA style
Publication manual of the American Psychological association (6th edition)
APA style blog
Chicago style
Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Chicago Manual of Style Online
The reference manager software RefWorks enables you to create essays and papers in many different citation styles.
Summary
Searching and finding information you need for your studies is important, but you also need to use the information you find correctly. In this module, you learned how to use (scientific) information correctly.
You learned that you have to pay attention to copyright and how to avoid plagiarism. In addition, you now know how and when to quote and paraphrase information from other sources. And you have learned how to collect and use literature references.
Index
