Searching for information may feel difficult but it helps to think it as a process and divide the ordeal into smaller sections, that is stages. You will save time and get the best end result possible by planning your information searching beforehand.
The process starts with defining your information need and search topic and continues with brainstorming search terms. You then choose suitable search techniques and the information source. If you do not find what you are looking for, return to previous stages and polish your search. After finding a good source, you evaluate its usefulness and reliability and use it ethically in your work.
When searching for information you can use a different search strategy depending on the information need.
With quick and simple searches you familiarise yourself with a topic, suitable especially for the beginning of the information searching process.
You browse material by topic or field, for example, in a library database or database of your own field.
By using the bibliography, subject terms, authors etc. of a good source you have found, you search for other relevant sources. In citation databases, for example, you search for publications that cite the initial source you found.
A carefully planned search carried out in the databases of the field in question by following certain criteria for comprehensive search results. Searches are documented to make them easily reproducible. Systematic searching is used in literature reviews but can be applied whenever you want to find a broad scope of relevant sources.
