Check the instructions
Before you begin, check the instructions provided by your topic coordinator. These often tell you the types of sources you need to use, or that you need to include in your reference list or bibliography.
Below are some common examples - and what you can do to find them.
If you need to find a source that is not listed here, check this list of specialised sources for more information and advice.
Example instructions |
Where to search |
| Use scholarly sources, such as books and journal articles | Search Library databases. For more info: see Search Library databases below. |
| Include at least 3 peer reviewed articles | Search Library databases, use a peer review filter. For more info: see the Peer review sources guide. |
| Only use sources that have been published in the last 5 years | Search Library databases, use a date filter. |
| Refer to statistics | Search the Australian Bureau of Statistics or other official statistical source. For more info: see the Statistics guide. |
| Find a news article | Search a news database. For more info: see the News guide. |
| Find the highest level of evidence available | Refer to the Evidence based practice guide for more information and advice. |
Start with your textbook and readings
A great place to start is to look at the readings set by your topic coordinator that cover the topic you need to research.
These have been carefully selected to help you learn about the topic - the fundamental concepts, the underlying theories, the issues and debates, and useful examples.
You may be able to use these readings as references.
Search Library databases (including findit@flinders)
Library databases are the best place to search for academic, scholarly and research sources - books, journal articles, reports, and more.
The Library subscribes to hundreds of databases - so where do you start?
Try these options.
| findit@flinders | This is the Library's discovery tool. It captures millions of academic and research sources that the Library provides access to. It is a useful search tool for any topic. |
| Subject specific databases | Choose a subject area to see a list of relevant databases. Each has a short description, which will help you identify which has the information you need. |
| Databases by type of source | Click on 'Database types' to see a list of databases that contain specialised sources, such as news, standards, statistics, market and industry information, etc. |
| Subject resources guides | Some disciplines use specialised sources for specific purposes (e.g. health, law). These guides point you to the most useful databases and websites. |
| AI search tools |
These free tools draw from open datasets of metadata about academic publications (e.g. title, author, publication, abstract). The scope of these can be comparable to publisher databases that the Library subscribes to, however some major publishers exclude their sources from these datasets. As such, it is recommended that you also search findit@flinders or another Library database. |
Quick tips for searching databases
Library databases have a particular way of indexing and retrieving sources. When you enter a search, a database will attempt to find sources that contain the words you type in.
To get the most relevant results, try these search tips. For more details, see the How to search databases guide.
| Identify concepts | What are the main ideas from your topic or research question? Separate these as much as possible. For example, asthmatic children can be split into two concepts, asthma and children. |
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| Identify synonyms | How might different authors talk about these concepts? What terminology might they use? You can also think of related ideas or examples. |
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| Truncate words | If you want to find words that share the same stem, you can do this by adding a symbol (usually an asterisk) to the stem. e.g. educat* will find educate, educated, education, educational, etc. |
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| Lock phrases together | If you want to find a specific phrase, with words together in a specific order, you can add double quote marks around the words. e.g. "climate change" |
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| Combine your search terms | The above concepts and synonyms become your search terms - but you need to tell the database the combination of these words that you want. You can do this by using connectors, also known as boolean operators. | |
| AND | Use between different concepts e.g. asthma AND children |
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| OR | Use between synonyms. Group using round brackets. e.g. children OR toddlers |
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| Focus your search | Use filters or limits provided by the database. e.g. by date, or type of source. |
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Evaluate, adjust, and improve your results
Searching is rarely a perfect process - it can take a few attempts to get the most relevant results.
Once you have a list of results, take a moment to scan the titles and abstracts of the first few results. At this stage, you are just looking to see:
- if your search terms appear,
- if they appear in the correct context,
- if your topic is the focus of the article, rather than just mentioned as an example.
If the results aren't quite what you wanted, it usually means your search needs adjusting. Below are some common issues and quick strategies you can try. For more advice, see the Review and improve your search guide.
| The results are not relevant | Find one or two results that look relevant. Read the title and abstract - are there any words or phrases used that you could add to your search? |
| There are too many results | Can you narrow the focus of any of the concepts? e.g. teenagers rather than young adults. Can you narrow the focus of your topic by adding other concepts? e.g. a location? Use the AND connector to add this to your search. Can you apply any filters? e.g. date or type of resource. |
| There are not enough results | Are there any spelling mistakes? Can you think of additional synonyms for any of the concepts? Use the OR connector to add these to your search. Try using a different database. It could be that another database might have better coverage of the subject or type of source you are interested in, Is the topic a new field of research? It is possible that no one has written on the exact topic yet. You may need to look for sources that examine one or two concepts, and link the ideas together to inform you work. |
| The results are too old | Depending on your topic, this could be OK. For example, if the field has not changed much and it new research has not been needed. Check with your teacher if you are unsure. |
Follow clues
By following the above strategies, you should have found some resources that you can rely on and use as references.
You can use these to find additional relevant resources - below are a couple of strategies you can try.
| Check the reference list or bibliography | This will show you the resources that the author used. You can then find and read references that look useful. If a link or URL is provided, you can simply follow this. If no link is provided, copy the title and author details into findit@flinders. |
| See if other authors have cited the resource | This will help you find more recent information on the topic. Access Google Scholar through the Library website and search for the resources. Under the details you should see a 'Cited by' link - click on this to see a list of sources that cited the original source. If a link is provided, you can simply click on this. If a link is not provided (or you are asked to pay to access the source), look for a link to findit@flinders - this may be hidden under 'More'. |
Next steps - save, evaluate, manage
By following the above strategies, you should be able to find some great sources to inform your work and to use as references.
There are a few things you can do next:
- Save your search - this is useful if you want to keep iterating your search later or get advice from your teacher or a librarian.
- Evaluate the sources - to assess both their usefulness and credibility.
- Manage the sources - this is useful when you have a large number of references to work with.
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