# 1. Introduction

As a university lecturer, you guide your students not only in what to learn, but also how to learn. In today's world of information overload, that means helping them engage with search engines and databases in a critical way. While these tools provide quick access to academic literature, they are far from neutral: what you and your students will find (or more importantly, will not find) is influenced by algorithms, disciplinary traditions and the commercial interests of the companies behind those search engines and databases.

This online guide will help you:

- recognize biases of the most common search engines and databases;
- understand why awareness of these biases matters for academic teaching and research;
- equip your students with strategies for more inclusive and critical searching.