Plan:
· Start your search by planning your search strategy and brainstorm (mind map) your topic / essay title / question
· What you need to find out?
· How much information do you need?
· Think of keywords (concepts)
· Remember to think about synonyms, variant spellings, abbreviations e.g. carers, care, caring, caregivers, informal care, anaesthesia/anesthesia, anaesthetics/anesthetics etc.
· Define your limits – language, date, geography, gender, age etc.
· Decide what type of information you need and where you are going to look. For example - Do you need books? Do you need journal articles? Do you need guidelines, statistics, government policies, research?
Search:
· Think about where you are going to search:
· Start with your library website and login to search and where available access full text resources (e-books, e-journals – full text of journal articles etc.)
· Books - use Quick Search on the library website to search for books and e-books.
· Journal articles - use databases e.g. British Nursing Index, CINAHL, Medline, ASSIA etc. via the Advanced Search on the library website
· Websites - use subject gateways e.g. Intute: Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health, Intute Social Sciences, Intute: Medicine etc. via the Advanced Search on the library website
· Guidelines and policy e.g. Department of Health, NICE, NHS Evidence, NMC via the Advanced Search on the library website
· Statistics e.g. National Statistics, Department of Health, WHO via the Advanced Search – Health Statistics sub category on the library website
· Use your keywords from you plan as search words. Combine words and short phrases using AND, OR, NOT e.g. wound care and diabetes
· Make use of other search tips for the database (truncation e.g.* or $, wildcards - ?, phrase searching etc.) and also online help and guides
· Refine – be prepared to change your search words
Evaluate:
· What you find - check for authority, quality, authorship, currency, reliability, quality and use of references, bias, research quality etc.
(see reverse for more information)
Record:
· Keep details of what and where you search as you go along.
· Keep details of the full references for future use. For websites include the web address (URL) and date you accessed the information.
· Remember to use the Harvard Referencing style.
· Save to My Digital Library within Advanced Search or use RefWorks
Evaluating information
Where?
· Where has the information come from?
· Is it from an academic publisher?
· Have you used an academic database indexing journal articles, or library catalogue?
· Is it from a peer reviewed journal?
· Is it from an official source e.g. Government department, Royal College, Conference?
· Have you used Google or similar? - academic credibility will need verification
Who?
· Who wrote or published the information?
· Can you establish the academic credibility of the author(s)?
Have they got the authority to write what they are writing about?
· Has the information been peer reviewed?
· Has the author published other works?
What?
· Is the content and coverage suitable?
· What level is it?
· Is the content primary research (new information), secondary research, an overview, literature review etc.?
· Can you check for the accuracy and quality of the information?
· What is the purpose of the source and what audience is it targeted at?
· How does it compare with other sources?
· Are there any obvious biases? e.g. geographical focus, organisational viewpoint etc.
· How good are the references – currency etc.?
· Is it relevant to your work?
When?
· How up to date is it? What is the date of publication?
Further help with searching and evaluating information:
Online help via the library website (Help and Advice section)
- Information Skills Tutorial (PILOT) – Online tutorial to help you with searching for and evaluating information
- Library Guides –includes Harvard Referencing, RefWorks, Subject Guides e.g. Nursing, Database guides e.g. CINAHL
- Harvard Guide to Referencing as well as other systems (go to the referencing systems blog)
- Internet for Nurse (Intute)
A tutorial about how to find nursing information on the web
Online tutorial to learn more about evaluating websites
- Library website - Internet Searching – Search Tips section
