Where to deploy your search strategy?

The final piece of the search strategy jigsaw is to put it into practice. This means going to a resource and searching it with your well-thought-out strategy. Your search strategy may be perfect but will only work well if you run it in the right place. It is no good searching LibrarySearch if what you want to find is case law or Government policy documents; these sources can be linked to via LibrarySearch but won’t appear in the list of search results. You need to make sure you match your information need (what it is you want to find) with an information source (book, journal article, map, patent, case law, artist’s book, photograph etc.) and then search in a place that provides that source. If you want to find a Government document, try gov.uk; if you want to find textbooks try LibrarySearch; if you want to find journal articles try a subject specific database recommended in your subject guide.

Think about the best places to search and add these into your search strategy plan. Then you will have a checklist of key places to search and can be confident that you are looking in the right places to find the correct sources for your subject and assignment.

• View the Understanding academic sources module to find out about the different types of academic sources you may need to search for.

• View Advanced Literature Searching for more content on combining your keywords or looking for ‘grey’ literature.

• View your subject guide