Working with literature: a guide for Education doctoral students

Strategies for finding key publications for my research topic

To locate key publications relevant to your research topic you will need to invest in advanced search planning.

Advanced search planning

Pre-searching - areas to address and document 

• What is the research problem(s) you would like to address?

• Subject areas? Do you need to include databases that are multidisciplinary or even from disciplines such as allied health, law or business?

• What kinds of literature do you anticipate as useful in your study?

• Where will you find it? Identify appropriate databases with the help of a relevant library subject guide

• Do you think it is easy to find these? What do you know about the articulation of the problem within the research community? Are concepts clearly formulated or somewhat difficult to find when that is not the case?

• Note: Searching in the early stages are often iterative, not linear, sometimes you will go to unexpected places

How can I map my approach and processes? 

• By hand with paper, pen, and sticky notes

• Word Tables

• Excel template/Google Sheets

• Software and applications

Tips from the librarians

• Save time in the long run with exploratory searches to identify more key terms and help with ranking databases
• Controlled vocabularies/ Thesauri are database specific. They are part of a set of helpful tools
• Set up multiple possibilities and different combinations of search terms. You often need more than one search to reach all the documents you need
• You often require more than one kind of strategy, e.g. (i)Following the pattern of one specific good article (keywords used, authors, etc.); (ii)Following references listed in one particular study
• Focused Subject/Abstract/ Keyword/ Title searches are useful to reduce the number of results and to hone in on higher relevance
• Proximity searches can help to find literature with variant combination of terms for descriptors – speak to your librarian if unsure
• Test your searches and results out against each other. Specifically in the early stages this is important
• Use the strengths of individual databases to your advantage
• Get to know each database provider (company) databases separately. That way you can maximise your effectiveness
• Find and use research methodology search filters where relevant  - speak to your librarian for further support
• Previously published review articles in the topic area can help uncover relevant databases and other information sources and web sites – read the methods section to find this information
• Keep record - Document in a format that is useful to you and your supervisor