ARAW Search Guide For Tias Students

Library and IT Services
Finding, evaluating, and documenting

scholarly information
S E A R C H G U I D E
© Library and IT Services Tilburg University
Finding, Evaluating and Documenting Scholarly Information
Literature Search Guide for Tias Students
When writing a paper or thesis, you need to support your argumentation with relevant and trustworthy
sources. But how (and where) do you find these sources?
This search guide provides information on searching effectively in databases, recognizing and evaluating
scholarly publications, finding publications in the University library, incorporating sources into your text,
and referencing your sources correctly.
The guide consists of four chapters:
1. Defining the Problem

2. Searching for Information
3. Evaluating Information
4. Organizing Information
© Library and IT Services 2012 xxx Tilburg University
Table of Contents
1 Defining the Prob le m ................................................................................... 2

1.1 Formulate your research question................................................................................................. 2
Mind Maps ..................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Familiarize yourself with your subject............................................................................................ 2
Resources available to you ........................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Determine what information you need........................................................................................... 3
2 Searching for Information ............................................................................ 4
2.1 Select information sources ............................................................................................................ 4
Databases offered by the University Library ................................................................................. 4
Database types .............................................................................................................................. 4
Relevant databases for TiasNimbas students............................................................................... 5
Access to databases off campus ................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Identify search terms ..................................................................................................................... 6
2.3 Search information sources ........................................................................................................... 7
2.3.1 Databases ................................................................................................................................ 7
Combining search terms ................................................................................................................ 7
Phrase searching ........................................................................................................................... 8
Truncation and wildcards............................................................................................................... 8
Field searching .............................................................................................................................. 9
Limiting searches / Refining results............................................................................................... 9
Using a thesaurus ........................................................................................................................ 10
2.3.2 Following up on references and citations .............................................................................. 12
Snowball searching...................................................................................................................... 12
Citation searching ........................................................................................................................ 12
2.3.3 Internet ................................................................................................................................... 14
Subject gateways......................................................................................................................... 14
Digital archives and institutional repositories .............................................................................. 14
Search engines ............................................................................................................................ 14
3 Eva luating Informa tion .............................................................................. 15
3.1 Assess the information you found ............................................................................................... 15
3.1.1 Quality .................................................................................................................................... 15
Characteristics of scholarly information....................................................................................... 15
Evaluating scholarly information .................................................................................................. 18
Evaluating information found on the Internet .............................................................................. 19
3.1.2 Relevance .............................................................................................................................. 20
Scanning your search results ...................................................................................................... 21
Obtaining publications ................................................................................................................. 21
3.2 Decide whether or not the information found is sufficient ........................................................... 23
4 Organiz ing Informa tion .............................................................................. 24
4.1 Document the search process ..................................................................................................... 24
4.2 Record relevant information ........................................................................................................ 24
4.3 Reference your sources .............................................................................................................. 25
4.3.1 Integrating sources into your text ........................................................................................... 25
4.3.2 Referencing styles .................................................................................................................. 26
4.3.3 Plagiarism............................................................................................................................... 26
1 Defining the Problem

In this phase, you formulate a research question, gather background information on your topic, and
decide what type of information you need.
1.1 Formulate you r rese arch question

The first step in any information search is formulating a research question. Make sure that your question
is clear and focused. This will make your search for information more effective and less time-consuming.
Example
Suppose that you have to write a ten page paper. You are interested in the general topic ‘effects
of violent media’. Obviously, you cannot adequately address this broad topic in a short paper. After
careful thought, you decide to narrow your focus on video game violence and its possible impact on
aggression in children aged 13-17.
Your research question might be:
How does exposure t o violent video games aff ect aggression in teenagers?
M ind M aps
If you have trouble deriving your research question from your general topic, you may consider making a
mind map (i.e. a visual representation of related concepts). Mindmapping can help you quickly identify
and understand the structure of your topic. It is an excellent method to make your pre-existing
knowledge explicit.
Proceed as follows:
▪ take a piece of paper (A4 or larger)
▪ start with the topic in the middle
▪ let it branch off in all directions into various aspects
▪ group the aspects, find relations
▪ use colours, symbols, figures
▪ use as little text as possible (keywords)
Do you want to know more about mind mapping? Go to How to Make a Mind map. You can also use
mindmapping software, which is often freely available on the Internet.
1.2 Familiarize you rself w ith your subject

You probably did some preliminary reading prior to formulating your research question. Now you need to
familiarize yourself more thorougly with your subject. Try to gain an overview of theories, research
findings and authoritative authors. Become acquainted with jargon and terminology.
While doing so, start collecting search terms by noting down key concepts and frequently mentioned
author names that you come across.
! As a result of gaining a greater understanding of your subject, your initial research question may evolve
and even change.
Resources ava ilab le to you
■ Reference works
Specialist dictionaries and subject encyclopedias provide explanations of terminology and the jargon
for a field. Use specialist dictionaries to look up specific subjects, and subject encyclopedias to get
brief overviews of a subject area. Encyclopedias are also very useful for their reference lists.
! The library's reference collection contains - besides hard copy reference works - a growing number
of electronic encyclopedias and dictionaries.
■ Handbooks and introductions
These works provide broad overviews of particular subject areas. Pick out recent titles.
! You can easily track down these works using the library’s search engine Get It! Just type a subject
term (for example,‘business’) and add the word ‘handbook’ or ‘introduction’.
■ Review articles
These are articles in which experts sum up and evaluate the current state of the research on a
particular topic. Review articles can be of great value for identifying key publications. They are
published in review journals (e.g. Journal of Economic Literature and Annual Review of Economics)
and academic journals that also publish research articles.
! One of the strategies to find review articles in databases is to add ‘review’ to a subject search term.
In addition, you can:

■ Search the Internet
The Internet is convenient to use and provides current information. However, the quality and
trustworthiness of information on the Internet is highly variable.
! For information on how to search for reliable information on the Internet, see Internet (p. 14). For
evalution criteria to consider, see Evaluating information found on the Internet (p.19).
■ Carry out an 'exploratory' database search
A simple, unsystematic search (also called a ‘quick and dirty’ search) can be useful to get a rough
idea of theories and research findings, or to identify search terms.
! See chapter 2: Searching for information (p. 4).
■ Consult an expert
By asking someone who knows the field (a lecturer, for instance), you can find out the titles of key
publications and names of important authors.
1.3 Determine w hat info rmation you need

Ask yourself what kind of information is needed to adequately answer your research question. Factors to
consider are:
■ What is the purpose of your search? Is it to find information for a paper? Then your search will not be
as in depth as if you are looking for information for a thesis.
■ What language(s) should your search cover?
■ What geographical area?
■ How current should the information be?
■ What type of information do you need? Are you looking for journal articles, books, newspaper
articles, trade publications, working papers, reports, statistics, financial or demographic data?
2 Searching for Information

In this phase, you select appropriate information sources and search for information on your topic.
2.1 Select info rmation s ources

Now you have to decide where to look for the information you need.
First, consider this:

Digita l vs . Prin t
A large and growing part of scholarly information is available in digital format. When searching for
information, you will be able to retrieve many documents online. This is convenient and time-saving.
However, some print sources (e.g. books and older publications) may prove to be of great value.
The Hidden Web

Many scholarly publications cannot be found using subject gateways or search engines like Google.
They are part of the so-called ‘hidden’, invisible’ or ‘deep’ web: content that is not indexed by search
engines. To find these ‘unfindable’ publications, you must have access to subscription databases
(available through academic libraries and other organizations).
Databases offe red b y the Univers ity L ibrary

The library provides access to a wide variety of databases. Go to the homepage of Tilburg University →
About Tilburg University → University Library → Catalogues and information sources. Choose:
■ All databases from A to Z for an alphabetical overview of all databases;
■ Databases by subject for an overview by discipline.
At first sight, the large number of databases listed may seem overwhelming. In determining what
databases are relevant to your topic, you can take a look at the short descriptions given in the database
list. For more extensive information on a particular database (e.g.: type of information, subjects, access,
manuals): click on the information button on the left side of the database name.
Database types
Databases can be characterized in the following ways.
■ Bibliographic databases contain bibliographic information about publications (such as title,
author(s), date of publication, publisher, journal name, volume, issue). Other information, like
abstracts, subject headings and references may also be included. If you find relevant titles in a
bibliographic database, you must locate the materials yourself. See Obtaining publications (p. 21).
■ Full-text / full-data databases provide access to the full text of publications (articles, newspapers,
legislation, case law or books) or data such as company information, multimedia material, or
statistical data.
■ Multi-disciplinary databases cover a range of disciplines.
■ Subject-oriented databases cover one discipline.
■ Local databases exclusively contain information about publications (In print and digital format)
included in the Tilburg University Library collection.
In addition to these database types, there are ‘hybrid’ databases containing a mix of bibliographic and full
text records.
Relevant databases for T iasNimbas s tud ents

Multi-disciplinary
Name Database type Publication type(s)
WorldCat Local Local (and worldwide), journal articles, books, book chapters, TiU
bibliographic, partlyfull student theses, research papers on Economics.
text NOTE: as well as items from libraries worldwide
LexisNexis Academic full text Dutch and international newspaper articles,
Dutch and international company information
Netherlands Central Catalogue bibliographic books and journals in collections of Dutch
(NCC) libraries
Online Contents National bibliographic journal articles in collections of Dutch libraries
ProQuest partly full text books, journal articles, working papers,
conference proceedings, audiovisual media
ScienceDirect full text (partly) journal articles and book chapters published by
Elsevier
Web of Science bibliographic, partly full articles from over 8,500 journals
text
Subject-orien ted: Eco no mics

Name Database type Publication type(s)
ABI/Inform Global (ProQuest full text (partly) journal articles, magazine articles, trade
interface). Also searchable publications, newspapers, reports, working
through ProQuest papers
EconLit bibliographic journal articles, books, book reviews,
dissertations, working papers on Economics
Economists Online bibliographic, partly full articles, books, book chapters, reports, working
Academic output from key text and full data papers
economic institutions
Datastream full data data sources: stock market, financial, and
economic data on companies and industries
from selected countries, worldwide exchange
and interest data
WRDS (Wharton Research Data full data data sources: financial, economic, marketing
Services)
Contains Amadeus, Bankscope,
Compustat North America,
Compustat Global, CRSP,
ExecuComp, IBES
! Do you want to know more about a particular database? In the database list, click on the corresponding
information button.
To get acquainted with the databases ABI/Inform Global, EconLit, ScienceDirect and Web of Science:
take a look at the short introductory tutorials for Economics students, available on the library webpage
Searching for scholarly information in specialized databases (tilburguniversity.edu/instruction).
Ac cess to database s off campus

Most databases offered by the library are not freely accessible via the public Internet. To search these
databases off campus (at home, for instance), you need to set up a VPN connection with the Tilburg
University network. Go to Virtual Private Network (VPN) for information about installing VPN software.
2.2 Identify sea rch terms

The next step is identifying the appropriate search terms.
1. Break down you r rese arch ques tion in to co ncepts

Most research questions are composed of two or three concepts. The sample research question
introduced in section 1.1 (p. 2), ‘How does exposure to violent video games affect aggression in
teenagers?’ contains three: violent video games, aggression and teenagers.
2. Identi fy search te rms for each concept

Search terms are single words or ‘phrases’ (two or more words), e.g. ‘video game violence’. To find
appropriate search terms, you can consult specialist dictionaries and encyclopedias.
A valuable tool to identify search terms is a thesaurus. (See Using a thesaurus, p. 10).
Think of:
▪ synonyms and related words
▪ broader (more general) and narrower (more specific) words
▪ spelling variants, e.g. behaviour/behavior
▪ single and plural versions of words
▪ abbreviations and acronyms
▪ translations of search terms
3. Co mpile a co mprehen sive list of search terms

To keep an overview, organize your terms by concept.
violent video games aggression teenagers
NL: videogamegeweld, NL: agressief gedrag, agressiviteit, NL: adolescentie/

(gewelddadige) videospel(len), vechten, pesten, probleemgedrag, adolescent(en), tieners, pubers,
computerspel(len), videogame(s), gedragsproblemen, gewelddadig kinderen, jeugd, jongeren,
computergame(s), geweld in gedrag, antisociaal gedrag, jeugdigen, jongens, meisjes
video/computergame(s) (fysieke/verbale) agressie
ENG: video game violence, ENG: aggressive behavio(u)r, ENG: adolescents, adolescence,
(violent) video games/electronic/ aggressiveness, agonistic/ teenage(rs), teens, high school
computer games, vidgames, attack/antisocial behavio(u)r, students, puberty, child(ren),
gaming, (violent) game playing, bullying, fighting, behavio(u)r(al) childhood, kid(s), youth, boys, girls,
(video/computer) game playing problems, problem behavio(u)r, youngster(s)
(physical/verbal) aggression
Note that gathering search terms continues throughout the entire search process. While screening title
descriptions, abstracts and publications on your topic, you may come across search terms that better
describe your concepts than the ones you used so far. Add these new search terms to your overview.
2.3 Search info rmation sources

Once you have selected information sources and identified search terms, you can start searching.
2.3.1 Databases
Search techniques
▪ Combining search terms
▪ Phrase searching
▪ Truncation and wildcards
▪ Field searching
▪ Limiting searches
▪ Using a thesaurus
Keep in mind that search options vary from database to database. Some features mentioned above
may not be available in a particular database. Check the Help section to find out!
Combining search terms

‘Boolean’ or logical operators (AND, OR and NOT) are used to combine search terms.
The AND operator retrieves only those items that include

all the search terms.
AND is used between two terms to NARROW a search
media violence AND children
The OR operator retrieves items that contain any or all of the search
terms.
OR is used between synonyms to BROADEN a search
children OR kids
The NOT operator retrieves items that contain the first search term
and excludes items that contain the second search term.
NOT is used to NARROW a search by EXCLUDING items
children NOT preschool children
! The operator NOT should be used with some caution. It may exclude relevant documents from your result.
Order of precedence
If you use different boolean operators in one search query, the search is processed according to the
following order of precedence: NOT, then AND, then OR (unless you use parentheses).
Using parentheses allows you to group search terms and influence the order in which a search is
executed. That way you can create more complex search queries.
→ Combined terms within parentheses are searched first;

→ Combined terms within parentheses within parentheses (!) are searched from the inside out.
(video game violence OR computer game violence) AND (aggression OR aggressive behavior) AND
(teenagers OR adolescents)
((aggressive OR attack) AND behavior) AND games

Database search forms

Many databases offer an advanced search mode with
a search form that allows you to choose Boolean
operators from a menu.
Phrase searching
Search terms consisting of two or more words (phrases) are usually searched in the exact order in which
they are typed in. In some databases (and most search engines), you are required to use quotation
marks: “video game violence”. If you do not use quotation marks, your search is interpreted as a
Boolean AND search. This will retrieve more and less precise results.
Truncation and w ild cards

In most databases, your search will return results containing exact matches for the word(s) you entered.
Example
Imagine, you searched for ‘aggressive behavior’. Your results may seem satisfying at first sight. What
you should realize, however, is that you probably missed relevant items containing the terms
‘aggressiveness’, ‘aggression’, and ‘aggressive behaviour’.
To easily find variations of search terms, you can make use of so-called ‘wildcards’: symbols that replace
characters. The wildcard symbol is database specific. It may be an asterisk (*), a question mark (?) or an
exclamation mark (!). For clarity's sake, the asterisk is used as a wildcard symbol in the examples below.
Use wildcards to:

■ Break off a word (truncation)
This allows you to include plurals and various endings in your search query. The wildcard replaces
zero, one or more characters at the end of a word.
child* finds child, childhood, children, children’s, etc.

aggressi* finds aggressive, aggressiveness and aggression
Make sure that your wildcard is in the right place. Otherwise, you will also retrieve irrelevant results:
viol* finds violence and violent, but also violation, viola, violable, violin, etc.
violen* finds violence and violent
■ Replace characters within a word (masking)

This allows you to include plurals and alternative spellings (e.g. English/American) in your search
query. The wildcard may replace exactly one character:
wom*n finds woman and women
or one or more characters:
behavi*r finds behavior and behaviour
! Different symbols may be used for truncating and masking. Read the database help information to find out.
Field searching
A literature database is composed of records that describe publications. Each record is subdivided into
fields, which in turn describe one aspect of a publication. For example, records in a database might
include an author field, a title field, an abstract field, a subject field and a date field. Which fields are
available and what they are called depends on the database. Usually, two-character abbreviations (field
codes) are assigned to fields, such as AU-Author, SU-Subjects, and TI-Title.
Most databases search all fields by default. An all fields search finds matches for your search terms in
any field of a record. This will return a large result set, which is likely to contain too many irrelevant items.
In a field search you specify which field you want the database to search. You will retrieve fewer but
more relevant results. For example, if you are looking for information on a particular subject, you can
decide to search only the subject field.
Databases often allow you to combine multiple field searches in the advanced search screen:
Limiting searches / Refining results

Most databases have features that allow you to limit your search to certain criteria. This will reduce the
number of irrelevant items in your search result. Limits (also called ‘filters’) vary between databases.
Common limits include date range, publication/source type, document type and language.
More and more databases let you apply filters after running
a search query. Look for ‘Narrow Results by’ or ‘Refine
Results by’, usually located on the left or right side of the
screen.
Using a thesaurus
A thesaurus is a list of terms in which subject relations with other terms are indicated. These ‘thesaurus
terms’ (also called ‘descriptors’) are used to describe documents in a database.
Finding terms
A thesaurus search will map the term you enter to the appropriate thesaurus term. In the example below,
a search for ‘video games’ in ABI/Inform Global’s thesaurus points to ‘Computer & video games’.
Relationships between thesaurus terms

In a thesaurus, each term is linked to broader, narrower, and related terms.
■ Broader term (BT) = more general term

■ Narrower term (NT) = more specific term
■ Related term (RT) = associated term
Exa mple
Aggression
Use For Aggressiveness A ‘Use For’ term (also called ‘nonpreferred’ term) is a
Aggressive behavior synonym, quasi-synonym or variant that points to the
BT Personality traits appropriate thesaurus term (the ‘preferred’ term).
NT Physical aggression In this example, ‘aggression’ is the preferred term that
Psychological aggression is used for the nonpreferred terms ‘aggressiveness’
Verbal aggression and ‘aggressive behavior’.
RT Antisocial behavior
Behavior problems
Bullying
Dominance
Frustration
Harrassment
Hostitlity
Violence
! Note that the BT/NT relationship is hierarchical. For every BT, there is a corresponding NT in the
thesaurus. For example: ‘physical aggression’ is a NT of ‘agression’; aggression is a BT of ‘physical
aggression’. The RT relationship, however, is not hierarchical; RT terms have a looser conceptual
relationship.
Searching with thesa urus ter ms

Searching with ‘regular’ terms has the disadvantage that relevant documents can be missed because
(the descriptions of) these documents do not contain the particular search term(s) used. If a database
has a thesaurus, you can simply select the thesaurus terms that match your search terms and add them
to your search. Searching with these ‘controlled’ terms will return a very precise (=highly relevant) result
set. You will most likely retrieve documents on your subject you would have missed using your original
search terms.
For example, if you search ABI/Inform Global with the thesaurus term ‘computer & video games’, two
‘Use for’ terms you may not have considered (‘mobile games’ and ‘vidgames’) are automatically included
in your search (see the screenshot from ABI/Inform Global on page 10).
2.3.2 Follow ing up on refe rences and c itations

If you have already found a highly relevant publication, you can use this ‘key’ publication to identify
subject-related literature.
Snowball sea rching

Academic research is built on the work of others. Each scholarly publication provides details on the
sources cited, usually in a list of references (i.e., bibliographic information about publications, such as
author, title, year of publication, publisher, etc.) at the end of the document.
You can follow up on references that appear to be relevant to your topic. From the retrieved items, you
can look up further items, and so on. This widely used search technique is often referred to as ‘snowball
searching’ or ‘snowballing’. It is a simple and adequate method to identify publications on your subject.
However, snowballing has a limitation: it moves your search BACK IN TIME. The literature you find is
older than the publication you started with.
Citation search ing

You can also search FORWARD IN TIME. Citation searching is a technique that allows you to track
down publications that cite your key publication. The assumption behind this search method is that there
is a subject relationship between a citing and a cited work. Through a citation search, you can discover
how an idea or innovation has been confirmed, applied, improved, extended, or corrected.
Results of a snowball search: Results of a citation search:

older (cited) publications newer (citing) publications
Major databases often allow you to search for citations (e.g. ABI/Inform Global, ScienceDirect and Web
of Science). This search option is usually indicated by a ‘Cited by’ or ‘Times Cited in This Database’ link.
Cited Reference Searching in W eb of Science

A more extensive way of citation searching is provided by Web of Science. This database includes
several ‘citation indexes’, among which the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). The indexes contain
information gathered from the references of thousands of authoritative scholarly journals (ISI-listed
journals, for more information see ISI-listed journals & impact factors, p. 17).
Thanks to these indexes, it is possible to perform a so-called ‘Cited Reference Search’: a search for
articles (from ISI journals) citing a chosen work. This work can be a book, a book chapter, dissertation,
working paper, research report, or journal article that itself is not included in Web of Science.
The book ‘Playing with power in movies,

television, and video games: From Muppet
Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’,
written by Marsha Kinder and published in
1991 has been cited 74 times in journals from
Web of Science.
! If a publication is very recent, it may not yet have been cited.
How is it done? Take a look at Thomson Reuters’ Cited Reference Searching tutorial (6.18 minutes).
Note that Web of Science does not include all important scholarly publications. For example, only a
portion of journals in the social sciences and the arts and humanities is covered. In addition, Web of
Science tracks only the cited references in (selected) journals and conference papers, not those in books
and other publication types. As a result, the cited reference results provided by Web of Science are not
comprehensive.
Citation sea rching in Google Scholar

Citation searching is also offered by Google Scholar, Google’s search engine for academic content.
Google Scholar indexes many more titles than Web of Science. Citations in Google Scholar are not
restricted to articles in scholarly journals. They include citations in a variety of sources, e.g. book,
research reports, working papers, dissertations, conference papers, academic blog posts and articles
from academic publishers, researchers’ homepages, and institutional repositories (online archives
containing the research output of universities). See also: Google Scholar as a tool to track down the full
text of publications, p. 23.
Keep in mind, however, that the citation counts reported by Google Scholar cannot be taken at face
value. Duplicate citations may be included, and citations are sometimes incomplete or even incorrect.
Furthermore, it is impossible to assess the exact coverage by Google Scholar since Google does not
reveal its sources of data. Despite these flaws, Google Scholar is generally considered a useful
additional tool when conducting searches for cited references.
Related Records / Docu men ts with sha red refe rences

Some databases enable you to search for publications that share the same references - and therefore
have a subject relationship. The more shared references, the closer the relationship. This is a simple and
effective way to find publications on your subject!
2.3.3 Interne t
The Internet can be very useful for finding scholarly material, but should be seen as an additional
resource to library databases, and not as a replacement. If you rely entirely on the Internet you will,
without doubt, miss out on important information.
The amount of information available on the Internet is huge. However, the quality of the information
varies enormously. Below you will find some tips to help you search for reliable information..
Subject gatew a ys
Subject gateways (also called information gateways) are catalogues of internet resources. They can help
you locate high quality information on the Internet in a quick and effective way. The resources included
have been specially selected, evaluated and classified by subject specialists. Take a look at:
▪ ACADEMIC INFO
▪ INFOMINE
Digita l a rchives and ins titutional repositories

Digital archives (also called Open Access archives or ePrint archives) and institutional repositories
(archives that contain the research output of a university or a research institution) are good resources for
free versions of scholarly documents. To search repository content, go to:
▪ OpenDOAR
▪ Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR)
▪ Repository Search (UK)
▪ NARCIS (Dutch Institutional repositories)
Search engines
1. Use more than one search engine - not just Google. An extensive overview of search engines is
available at http://www.internettutorials.net/engines.asp. Recommended are:
▪ Google Scholar, Google’s search engine for academic content;
▪ Scirus, a search engine for scientific information that does not index commercial websites.
2. Use the Advanced Search options, offered by major search engines. This will focus your search and
increase the relevance of your results. Features vary depending on the search engine. Scirus, for
instance, lets you limit searches to:
▪ PDF format. Scholarly works are often published in this format. They may not appear in the first
few pages of your search results unless you select this limit.
▪ subject area;
▪ a domain, such as .gov, .edu, .org. You can also eliminate domains, for example: NOT .com in the
field ‘(Part of a) URL’.
3. Use specific, unique terms rather than general ones.
4. Enclose phrases in double quotation marks to look for words immediately next to each other.
For more comprehensive information on using search engines effectively, see Internettutorials: your
basic guide to the Internet, and Internet Detective.
! Are you searching the Internet off campus? Set up a VPN connection. That way you will be able to access
publications the library subscribes to.
3 Evaluating Information
In this phase, you assess the information found and select publications you want to use.
3.1 As sess the informa tion you found

Once you have carried out your search, you need to critically evaluate the information you found.
Questions you should ask yourself are:
■ Is it quality in forma tion?
− If you found it in a library database, you can safely assume that it is. The books, journals and
other resources available in the library have been carefully selected to support the learning and
research needs of students and staff. Keep in mind, though, that ‘quality information’ does not
necessarily mean ‘scholarly information’.
− If you found it on the Internet, there is no garantuee for quality. You will need to pay closer
attention to the assessment of the information.
■ Is the informa tion re le vant to m y topic?
In other words, can you answer your research question with it? Did you find sources to support your
argument and present an overview of your topic?
3.1.1 Qua lity

Scholarly information is by definition quality information. However, some scholarly publications are of
high quality, while others are not. Critical evaluation of each work you are considering using is needed.
Characteris tics of s cholarly in forma tion

How can you recognize scholarly publications? First, some information about scholarly publishing:
Scholarly pub lish ing

The process of disseminating research findings to the academic community is called scholarly
communication. It can be informal (presentations, hallway discussions at conferences, blog posts,
contributions to discussion lists etc.) or formal (scholarly publishing).
Functions of scholarly publishing are:

▪ ensuring the quality of ideas and research (see page 16: peer review)
▪ providing access to those same ideas and research
▪ establishing an author’s priority (i.e. the author mentioned or discovered something first)
▪ preserving ideas and research as part of the ‘official record’ of scholarly knowledge (on which other
authors can build)
The importance of journals
The predominant channel for scholarly publishing are journals. They provide a fast and efficient way to
spread the latest developments in a field of study. In some disciplines (e.g. the arts and humanities)
books are more important.
Publish or Perish
In the academic community, scientists are judged by the number of articles they published as well as
by the importance of the journals in which their articles were published. Career success is based on
research and publishing, and much less on excellence in teaching. The result of this ‘publish or perish’
culture has been an enormous growth of scholarly publications.
Open Access
Researchers publish their research findings in scholarly journals, which are traditionally financed from
subscriptions. Because of the high cost, mainly academic libraries can afford to take out subscriptions
to these journals. Students and staff from the associated university then have access. For others,
access to these journals is very expensive.
This traditional method of dessiminating research is changing. The ‘Open Access movement’ aims at
making peer-reviewed articles freely available worldwide. Two basic strategies are used to achieve
open access (OA):
1. Publishing in Open Access journals (that provide free access to articles). OA journals can be found
in the database Directory of Open Access Journals.
2. Self-archiving: making published journal articles available on author home pages or depositing them
in digital OA archives (also called ePrint archives) and institutional repositories. The latter contain
the research output of universities or research institutions.
Types of content stored in ePrint archives and institutional repositories are: peer-reviewed journal
articles, preprints (articles before peer review), postprints (articles after peer review), research
reports, working papers, conference papers, books, book chapters and dissertations.
! Most digital archives/repositories can be searched. Check section 2.3.3 for more information.
Scholarly publication s
Scholarly publications, regardless of publication type, have some basic characteristics.
▪ Written by, and addressed to, experts in a discipline.
▪ Author(s) and author credentials (degrees and positions) are indicated prominently.
▪ Terminology of a particular field of study is used.
▪ Detailed information on the cited sources is provided.
▪ Sober, serious format.
Scholarly journals
Distinguishing characteristics of scholarly journals are:
▪ They contain different types of articles: letters to the editor, book reviews, review articles and research
articles.
! Research articles follow a very specific structure: Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion
and References.
▪ Articles are lengthy (5+ pages).
▪ Publishing frequency is typically two or four times a year.
▪ They are often ‘peer reviewed’.
Peer re view
Peer-reviewed (or refereed) journals send submitted articles to independent experts in the field (peers)
for review before deciding to publish them. This review process helps ensure the quality of the
published articles. The referees make critical comments on the text that the author must incorporate
into the article before its publication. Peer-reviewed journals are considered the most significant of the
scholarly journals.
Some peer-reviewed journals are more authorative than others. To determine the importance of a
journal, you can look up its ‘impact factor’.
ISI-listed journa ls & Impac t factors

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) is a database that contains citation data from high-quality journals
indexed in ISI’s Web of Science. These journals are often referred to as ISI-listed or ISI-covered
journals. ISI is an abbreviation for Institute for Scientific Information.
JCR produces several tools for evaluating journals. One of these tools is the impact factor: a measure
for the frequency with which the ‘average article’ in a journal has been cited in a particular year. For
2010, the impact factor is calculated as follows:
Citations in 2011 to articles published in 2009 and 2010

= impact factor 2011
Number of articles published in 2009 and 2010
The impact factor is commonly used to assess journal importance. Journals with higher impact factors
are considered more influential than journals with lower ones.
Note that a journal’s impact factor should be compared only to impact factors of other journals in the
same subject area. For example, the 2010 impact factor of Review of Financial Studies is 4.602. The
journal has the highest ‘journal rank’ or ‘ranking’ in the JCR subject category Business, Finance. The
impact factor of the first-ranked journal in the subject category Physics, Applied, however, is 29.920.
Finding out if a journal is ISI-listed / has an impact factor / is peer reviewed:

■ Search for the journal title in Web of Science (select the field Publication Name) or Journal Citation
Reports (both listed in the library’s overview of all databases). If the journal is included, you know
for sure that it is ISI-listed. It is also peer reviewed, as all ISI-listed journals are peer reviewed.
■ You can also look up the journal title in the ISI Master Journal List.
If the journal is not covered by ISI, it may still be peer reviewed.

■ Find the official homepage of the journal. Check to see if it states that the journal is peer reviewed.
■ If the journal’s homepage does not provide information on the editorial process, look at the
instructions to authors. If it says that articles are sent out for review before acceptance, you are
dealing with a peer reviewed journal.
! A useful websites for finding journal homepages is JournalSeek (http://journalseek.net/).
Note that databases often allow you to limit your search to peer-reviewed journals. For instance,
ProQuest offers this feature on the basic search screen.
After performing a search, you can often further refine your search result. See Limiting searches/
Refining results, p. 9.
Scholarly books
Scholarly books include monographs (about a single subject), textbooks, reference works, dissertations,
and edited books (containing chapters written by several different authors).
■ Books are useful to provide an indepth overview of your topic. Because they are usually lengthy, the
author will probably discuss other things besides your exact topic. Use the table of contents or the
index to quickly determine which parts of the book are relevant for you.
! Use Google Books to view tables of contents and to search for keywords within books.
■ Books tend to be less up-to-date than journal articles. Obviously, it takes time for books to be written,
compiled, edited, published, and printed.
Grey litera ture

This term refers to materials that are published not for profit and, as a result, are not distributed by
commercial publishers. Grey literature is produced by government agencies, universities, research
institutions and other organizations. Scholarly grey literature comprises newsletters, reports, working
papers, theses, government documents and conference papers. A good way to find grey literature is
searching the Web.
The most current ‘cutting edge’ research on Economics can be found in research reports and working
papers. These preliminary works are often released by researchers to get feedback before submitting to
a scholarly journal. That way, research findings are rapidly disseminated to the academic community.
! Working papers are a key document type in Economics.
Trade publications
Trade journals are aimed at very specific audiences, usually managers or administrators in business,
finance, and industry. Although not scholarly, they should be mentioned here. Most trade publications
are of high quality; some are actually peer reviewed. Trade publications can be very useful for profession
or industry news, market data and product development information.
A well-known trade publication is Business Week.
! Trade publications can be found in ABI/Inform Global.
Evalua ting scho lar ly in formation

Even if you are certain that the information you found qualifies as scholarly, you still need to evaluate it
thorougly. Some questions to consider (and steps to take) during evaluation are:
■ Who is the au thor?

→ Look for author credentials (degrees and positions) on the book cover or introduction, or on the
title page of journal articles.
→ Find out what else the author has written by searching library databases. This can help
determine whether he or she is an acknowledged expert in the subject area.
■ Where is it publishe d?
An important indicator of quality is the reputation of the publisher.
With respect to journal articles
→ Find out if the article was published in a peer-reviewed journal.
→ Find out if the journal has an impact factor.
! Check Finding out if a journal is ISI-listed / has an impact factor / is peer reviewed (p. 17).
With respect to books

→ Was the book published by a reliable publisher? Such as a university press, an academic
publisher, a professional association or a government agency?
■ Is it influentia l?
As a general rule, high quality works attract a high number of citations.
→ Find out how often the publication has been cited in subsequent publications.
More information on citation searching is provided in section 2.3.2 (p. 12).
With respect to books
Did the book received good reviews?
→ Search for book reviews. Some databases (e.g. Web
of Science and EconLit) allow you to limit your results
to book reviews.
■ Is it up to date? If not, is it still useful?

Generally speaking, the information should not be too old, as it might have been superseded by
other research. Continuing and rapid developments in some disciplines (e.g. economics) demand
current information. However, the importance of currency depends entirely on your information need.
For example, if you are writing a literature review, you must include older publications.
! Keep in mind that some old(er) works may be ‘classics’. Such works are cited frequently by other
authors in the field.
Evalua ting info rmation found on the In te rnet

Any information you are considering using must be evaluated. Scholarly publications, however, have
usually been reviewed by peers or edited by publishers. Assessing the quality of information found on
the Internet presents additional challenges. After all, anyone can publish anything on the Internet.
W ebsites
In assessing the quality of websites, use the following criteria:
■ Authority
▪ Does the website have an author?
▪ If there is an author, is he/she knowledgeable and credible? Are his/her qualifications indicated?
▪ Is the author affiliated with a reputable (government) organization or a university?
▪ Can the author be contacted in order to request further information on his or her work?
▪ What else has the author published?
▪ Is the author cited by other authors in the field?
▪ Who, if anyone, sponsors the site? If the sponsor is an organization, is it reputable?
▪ What kind of website is it? Check the domain name extension: is it commercial (.com), educational
(.edu), nonprofit (.org), or governmental (.gov)?
■ Accuracy
▪ Is the information on the site accurate? Is it consistent with similar information in other sources?
▪ Is the information well-written: clear, concise and grammatically correct?
▪ Was the information reviewed by editors or subject experts before it was published?
▪ Are the sources used clearly listed so they can be verified, or does the site include links to the
sources themselves?
▪ Do links lead to high-quality and reliable sites?
▪ Do high-quality and reliable sites link to the site?
■ Objectivity
▪ Is the purpose of the site clearly stated? Is it to inform, to persuade, or to sell?
▪ Is the content of the site free of bias? Is the information presented in an objective and impartial
manner?
▪ Are opposing points of view presented respectfully?
■ Currency
▪ Is the date the information was first published on the Web clearly indicated?
▪ Is the date of the last revision indicated?
▪ Are the links to other sites working properly?
Want to know more about eva luating w ebsites?

Evaluating Web Pages: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
Evaluating Information Found on the Internet: Evaluating Information Found on the Internet
Internet Detective: http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/index.html
Docu ments available on the Inte rnet

All kinds of documents not originally designed for the Internet can be found on the Internet. These
documents are often published in PDF-format, and some of them are scholarly.
Naturally, scholarly documents available on the public Internet - such as books, journal articles,
conference papers, research reports, dissertations and working papers - are quite different in scope,
focus, and reliability than most webpages.
If you come across a ‘web document’ that appears to be scholarly, check if the document has the
characteristics of scholarly publications described in section 3.1.1 (p.16). If it does, use the criteria listed
in evaluating scholarly information (p. 18) to assess the value of the document. If it does not, use the
quality criteria for webpages listed above.
As mentioned in Open Access (p. 16), the number of free online scholarly publications - especially peer-
reviewed journal articles - is growing steadily. Copies of articles are available via
▪ ‘Open Access’ digital archives (often organized around disciplines or subjects);
▪ Institutional repositories, containing the research output of universities and research institutions;
▪ Open access journals;
▪ Researcher’s homepages.
! Note that different versions of an article may be in circulation on the Internet. Some digital archives
contain preprints (manuscripts before peer review), as well as postprints (peer-reviewed manuscripts
accepted for publication) and published articles. In case you come across a document which has not
undergone peer review, try to track down a more recent version!
3.1.2 Rele vance

Relevance is not a property of the information itself, but of its relationship to your information need.
Considerations when determining relevance may be:
■ Does the information cover your topic? Is that coverage sufficient, or is it too superficial (or too
detailed) for your purposes?
■ Does the information add something new to your knowledge of the topic?
■ Does the information confirm or refute the findings of other researchers?
Scanning your searc h results

When searching for information - using a database or a search engine - your aim will be to retrieve only
relevant results.You will notice, however, that almost every search query also yields irrelevant titles. This
is called ‘noise’. The broader your search, the more noise you get. On the other hand, if your searches
are too narrow, you will miss relevant titles. It is thus important to find a good balance. Examine your
search results carefully, and modify your search query if needed.
You can do this by

▪ using narrower/broader search terms
▪ adding/omitting an aspect
▪ searching in other fields
▪ adding/omitting limits
Note that you should not automatically assume that the titles at the top of the result list are the most
relevant. Always check how your search results are sorted: by publication date or by relevance. The
default sort order is usually ‘Most recent first’.
Determine the relevance of an item by looking at the title, abstract, and keywords. This can be hard to do
- especially when an abstract and/or keywords are missing. In fact, it is often impossible to really judge
the relevance of a document until you have actually seen it.
Obtain ing publicatio ns

Once you have selected possibly relevant documents, how do you get hold of them?
■ In full-text databases, you can access the publications directly.
■ Local databases, such as WorldCat Local, will show a link to the full text of the publication, or a
location code if it concerns a paper document.
■ In some external bibliographic databases (e.g., ABI/Inform Global (ProQuest interface), EconLit and
Web of Science), the integrated TiUfinder (=Tilburg University finder) functionality allows for a quick
retrieval of the full text of publications that are not available in the database.
! In Google Scholar, the TiUfinder is also displayed..
Sometimes, however, only bibliographic information (e.g. title, author, date of publication, journal,
publisher) about a publication is available. For instance when you want to track down a publication found
in a reference list. To find a particular book or article in the library, proceed as follows.
Books
1. Look up the book in WorldCat Local, the search engine of Tilburg University. Choose ‘Netherlands
Central Catalogue’ in the pulldown menu. If the book is available in the library, you can borrow it (or
reserve it).
2. If the book you need is not available in the Tilburg University library, you can normally get it via
InterLibrary Loan (ILL). In WorldCat, you can place an ILL request.
Journals/ar ticles
To find a specific journal article search WorldCat Local (choose Tilburg University Library in the pulldown
menu). Keep in mind, however, that WorldCat Local does not provide access to all journals available
through the library. If you do not find the aticle you need,
1. Search by journal title in A-Z Journal List Tilburg University, available on the Databases page. If the
journal is available through the library, a link (digital journals) or a location code (print journals) is
displayed. If the journal is available through another provider, search for the article within the journal.
2. If the journal is not available in the library, you can order the article through the Interlibrary Loan
system. Requests can be made in WorldCat.
Locating books and journals in the University L ibrary

You can find books and journals in open, freely accessible shelves, distributed over three floors. A
large part of the collection is located in closed stacks. Books and journals from the depot can be
ordered with a depot request (see item 4).
Google Scholar as a tool to track dow n the full tex t of documents

Google Scholar is Google's search engine that focuses on academic content. Google Scholar indexes
peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, some books, theses and reports from academic publishers, digital
archives, professional societies, universities and other scholarly organizations.
! Google Scholar displays the TiUfinder if an item is accessible through the Tilburg University library.
You can use Google Scholar to track down the full text of publications not available in the library.
Search by title (enclosed in parentheses) and author name. If you find the publication, click (if
provided) the ‘all versions’ link.
▪ This will ususally get you to the publisher's website (e.g., SpringerLink) or a to database
(e.g., ScienceDirect). If the library has a subscription, you can download the text directly from your
work station at the university or at home (provided you have set up a VPN connection).
▪ You may also find a free version of the publication, as many researchers now make their
publications (often journal articles) accessible online. The publication may be available on the
author’s homepage, or through a digital archive (often an ‘institutional repository’: an archive
containing the research output of a university).
Searching Google Scholar is often faster and easier than searching individual databases. Apart from
that, Google (through ‘Cited by’) offers citation searching, which is a useful tool for determining the
scholarly impact of a publication. To learn more about citation searching, see section 2.3.2, p. 12-13.
Do keep in mind, however, that Google Scholar cannot trace all scholarly publications full-text and that
you may come across different versions (such as preprints and posptrints) of publications.
! A preprint is the version of an article before peer review; a postprint is the version of an article after peer
review, with revisions having been made.
3.2 Decide w hether or n ot the in forma tion found is suffic ient

Once you have selected, located and read a number of documents, you need to analyze and interrelate
the information they contain. Then you need to
1. Decide whether or not you can answer your research question with it. If you can, you are finished
searching.
If you cannot (yet), try to:
2. etermine what the gaps in the information are.
For instance, do you need more sources that support a particular argument you want to make? Or do
you need more information on opposing viewpoints?
After identifying the gaps:
3. consider how to find the additional information you need.
You may decide to use other (combinations of) search terms, to search another database, or to
search for citations of a relevant article.
It is also entirely possible that the information points in a new direction you want to explore, which again
may lead to a revision of your research question. This illustrates that the search process rarely takes
place in a linear fashion. At any phase, it may be necessary to go back and repeat previous steps.
Therefore, keep on evaluating throughout the entire search process. That way you won't realize at a later
stage that you are on the wrong track and need to start all over again.
4 Organizing Information
In this phase, you record and manage your information so that it can be easily found again.
4.1 Document the searc h process

Documenting your search process makes it easier to evaluate your search strategy and revise it if
needed. It is also helpful if you want to replicate a search you performed previously.
Make sure to document:

■ which search terms you used, how you combined your search terms, what limits you set (e.g. date
range, publication type), what fields (e.g. title, abstract) you searched, etc.
! Check section 2.3.1 (p. 7) for information about search techniques.
■ the information sources you searched.
■ the result of the search. Is it satisfactory or not?
4.2 Record rele vant info rmation

By keeping a record of all relevant information found, you ensure that you can
■ find the information again with minimum effort;
■ reference the information correctly (= include publication details of your sources in your writing).
Make a habit of recording bibliographical details of relevant documents immediately. If you leave it until
later, you may have to spend valuable time relocating the document.
The bibliographical details you need to record include:
Books Journal articles Webpages

▪ author(s), editor(s) ▪ author(s) ▪ author(s), editor(s)
▪ year of publication ▪ year of publication ▪ year of publication
▪ title ▪ title of article ▪ title
▪ edition (if other than first) ▪ title of journal ▪ URL
▪ place of publication ▪ volume number ▪ Retrieval date
▪ publisher ▪ issue number
▪ page numbers
Reference managers
You can record bibliographic information about your sources (references) in a Word file, and keep it up-
to date throughout the search process. A helpful tool for managing your references more efficiently is a
so-called reference manager.
Using a reference manager you can

■ create a personal database of references;
■ download references from literature databases;
■ generate reference lists in various citation styles, such as APA (see Referencing styles, p. 26).
As a Tilburg University student, you can use the reference manager Endnote or the Web version
EndNote Web. More information on this reference manager can be found on the Library and IT Services
webpage EndNote.
4.3 Reference your sour ces

Whenever you use the ideas or research findings of others in your paper, you must clearly indicate the
source. This is called referencing or citing.
By referencing, you
■ give credit to authors for their work;
■ make your text verifiable;
■ allow readers to locate your sources.
Any information that you use in your paper must be referenced, regardless whether it is taken from a
scholarly article or book, college sheets, an entry from an encyclopedia, a unauthored webpage, a
fellow student’s paper or a YouTube video.
The exception to this rule is common knowledge: information that is widely known or easily accessible
in general reference works. Examples of common knowledge are: ‘The First World War started in 1914
and ended in 1918’ and ‘Alcohol consumption causes changes in behavior’.
In order to reference properly, you need to know

■ how to integrate information from your sources into your writing;
■ how to provide information about your sources.
4.3.1 Integra ting so urces in to your tex t

There are three ways to incorporate information from sources into your writing: quoting, paraphrasing
and summarizing.
Quoting
Quoting (or ‘direct quoting’) is reproducing the exact words of an author.
You quote:
■ to indicate that an authoritative author supports your point;
■ when the exact words used by the author are essential to convey meaning, e.g. in case of a
definition or a specific term created by the author;
■ to present a particularly concise, characteric or eloquent passage.
! Use direct quotations sparingly. Otherwise, readers may feel that you do not fully understand the
subject matter.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is rewriting an author’s ideas in your own words. A paraphrase is usually about the same
length as the original passage.
You paraphrase:
■ to present a position or argument to comment on (and you want to maintain the same level of detail
as the original passage);
■ when the exact language of the passage is not significant (and therefore quoting is not required);
! You must fully rephrase the original language and change the original sentence structure. A common
mistake is ‘close paraphrasing’: copying whole sentences and only changing a few words. Note that
specialist terminology does not need to be changed.
Su mma ri zing
Summarizing is putting the main points of a larger text into your own words. A summary is usually much
shorter than the original text.
You summarize:
■ to support arguments;
■ when a higher level of detail is not required.
4.3.2 Referenc ing styles

Sources can be referenced by inserting footnotes, numbers, or source information (e.g. author and year)
in the text. In addition, a reference list / bibliography with complete bibiographical references is provided.
The format of the in-text / complete references depend on the referencing style used.
A referencing style (or citation style) is a set of rules for documenting sources. Different academic
disciplines use different referencing styles, such as APA, Chicago, OSCOLA, Harvard and Vancouver.
At Tilburg University, APA is a commonly used style.
APA referencing s tyle

The referencing style of the American Psychological Association (APA) prescribes in-text references
(author and year). A reference list is included at the end of the document.
Example: APA reference to a digital journal article
In the text:
In contrast, another study reported that parent-child communication moderates the relation between digital
game violence and direct aggression in adolescents (Wallenius & Punamaki, 2008).
In the reference list:

Wallenius, M., & Punamaki, R.-L. (2008). Digital game violence and direct aggression in adolescence: A
longitudinal study of the roles of sex, age, and parent-child communication. Jourrnal of Applied
Developmental Psychology, 29, 286-294. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2008.04.010

! For automatic generation of in-text references and reference lists in APA style, you can use a so-called
reference manager (see p. 24).
For further information: go to the library webpage APA Style. Here you will find links to trustworthy
resources about the APA referencing style, including an APA guide (available in Dutch only). The guide
provides a basic introduction to the APA style and includes examples of 30 common types of references.
When in doubt, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010). This
official style manual is available in the library.
4.3.3 Plag iarism

Plagiarism is using the ideas and words of others without clearly acknowledging the source of that
information. You can avoid plagiarism by referencing your sources properly.
Tilburg University considers plagiarism to be a serious academic offence. Students found guilty of
plagiarism can expect sanctions, such as being excluded from examinations. More information can be
found on the webpage Cheating and plagiarism.

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Finding, evaluating, and documenting

Finding, Evaluating and Documenting Scholarly Information

Literature Search Guide for Tias Students

The guide consists of four chapters:

1. Defining the Problem

1 Defining the Prob le m ................................................................................... 2

1 Defining the Problem

1.1 Formulate you r rese arch question

Your research question might be:

1.2 Familiarize you rself w ith your subject

Resources ava ilab le to you

In addition, you can:

1.3 Determine w hat info rmation you need

2 Searching for Information

2.1 Select info rmation s ources

First, consider this:

The Hidden Web

Databases offe red b y the Univers ity L ibrary

Relevant databases for T iasNimbas s tud ents

Subject-orien ted: Eco no mics

Ac cess to database s off campus

2.2 Identify sea rch terms

1. Break down you r rese arch ques tion in to co ncepts

2. Identi fy search te rms for each concept

3. Co mpile a co mprehen sive list of search terms

violent video games aggression teenagers

NL: videogamegeweld, NL: agressief gedrag, agressiviteit, NL: adolescentie/

2.3 Search info rmation sources

Combining search terms

The AND operator retrieves only those items that include

→ Combined terms within parentheses are searched first;

((aggressive OR attack) AND behavior) AND games

Database search forms

Truncation and w ild cards

Use wildcards to:

child* finds child, childhood, children, children’s, etc.

■ Replace characters within a word (masking)

wom*n finds woman and women

or one or more characters:

behavi*r finds behavior and behaviour

Limiting searches / Refining results

Relationships between thesaurus terms

■ Broader term (BT) = more general term

Searching with thesa urus ter ms

2.3.2 Follow ing up on refe rences and c itations

Snowball sea rching

Citation search ing

Results of a snowball search: Results of a citation search:

Cited Reference Searching in W eb of Science

The book ‘Playing with power in movies,

! If a publication is very recent, it may not yet have been cited.

Citation sea rching in Google Scholar

Related Records / Docu men ts with sha red refe rences

Digita l a rchives and ins titutional repositories

3.1 As sess the informa tion you found

3.1.1 Qua lity