Academic studies are based on research papers, and skills in literature search are for that reason crucial for students, researchers and knowledge workers in the future. For students at RUC, these skills are particularly important due to the PPL-model (Problem-oriented Project Learning) which expects you to search for literature independently.
Searching for literature in an academic context is a craft and a technique that takes time to master. To simplify the process for you, we have developed a search strategy in 6 steps. If you follow this strategy, you will cover all aspects of literature search needed to build a solid knowledge base for your semester project, bachelor's, or master's thesis.
By building your searches strategically and reflectively, you can avoid some of the common problems and pitfalls, e.g. bias by only using Google or Google Scholar. More generally, it will also help you avoid random searches. This libguide introduces you to search tools, library catalogues, and databases that you need to build your search strategy.
The literature search model in 6 steps is circular and should not necessarily be followed chronologically from step 1-6. Often, it will be necessary to adjust your strategy along the way, and maybe jump back and forth between the different steps. Moreover, it will most likely be necessary to go through six steps more than once.
This step is about making your interest or problem searchable. The entire search strategy is an iterative hermeneutic proces, and it's natural for keywords and search strings to evolve from initially being a few general words to becoming more specific, more elaborate, and more complex over time.
This step is about defining criteria for your search. What kind of literature are you interested in? How extensive should it be - that is, how many articles can you manage to handle? In research, we talk about inclusion and exclusion criteria - some can be incorporated into your searches while others need to be implemented through manual selection.
This step is about selecting the places where you search for literature. You should be aware that different databases contain different types of material, that there might be differences in search functions, that databases may overlap, but not all material can be found in a single database. Finally, some databases, search engines, and other literature search software can be based on non-transparent algorithms and may even produce non-reproducible results.
This step is about conducting and documenting the actual searches, as well as collecting the material you wish to include in your project. Furthermore, some search strategies may involve including literature from different kinds of searches, such as chain searching and citation searching.
This step involves the actual work with the discovered texts. Typically, it begins with a more thorough selection process, initially at the title/abstract level based on the criteria formulated in STEP 2. Subsequently, of course, reading the material is necessary. This step may also involve a narrowing down of the initial search, for instance if you find that there is too much material to read.
This step centres around your reflections on the search strategy you have developed. When you reach your final search strategy, either because you are satisfied with your findings or because you are running out of time, it is important to reflect in writing, within the methodology section, on how the choices and exclusions have influenced the knowledge base upon which you are building your work. E.g. what biases may have arisen, and in general, what strengths and weaknesses the strategy possesses.
Read the following text by Boell & Cecez-Kecmanovic (2010) which has been the inspiration for our 6-step model for literature search. In this article, literature search is described as a hermeneutic and iterative process.
Boell, S. K., & Cecez-Kecmanovic, D. (2010). Literature Reviews and the Hermeneutic Circle. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 41(2), 129–144. Link.