Searching the Literature

1
Chapter 3

• Searching the Literature

2
Literature Reviews are Important

• conceptual literature books and articles
  written by experts
• related research previous studies in problem
  area
• continue to search literature throughout project

3
Working bibliography

• note cards
• reference database managers
• Endnote
• Reference Manager

4
Research Reading

• Abstracts can provide summary/overview
• critical reading reading a large amount of
  material while thinking about, reflecting upon,
  analyzing the content
• Good idea to take notes
• Often helpful to start with review resources

5
Sources of Literature

• Indexes
• Reviews
• Periodicals
• Computer Retrieval Systems
• ERIC
• Sport Discus
• Medline
• PsycLIT
• DATRIX

6
Tips for Conducting a Computer Search

• State the problem precisely
• Select an appropriate database
• Identify key words from the problem
• Conduct and initial search
• Use references cited in other articles

7
Searching the Internet

• Subject directories
• Search engines
• Metasearch engines

8
Evaluating Information on Web

• What is the source?
• edu, com, gov, org, net
• Who is the author?
• Is the information current?
• Are references provided?
• Are links to other websites provided?