Literature search

To strengthen students’ competencies in academic literature searching, various search strategies and techniques are introduced. These methods are demonstrated in practice, including the use of block searching as an example of an advanced search process. Students are also given the opportunity to practice the presented techniques through exercises.

We review basic search strategies and techniques so that students become aware of how they can adapt and navigate sometimes very large sets of search results. Likewise, we review the different types of scholarly literature that are relevant in different contexts, and how to continuously adjust one’s search to achieve a manageable and realistic set of results. We demonstrate how to build a search using subject terms and synonyms, and students will also formulate their own block searches using Boolean operators, phrase searching, truncation, and other relevant filters.

DTU Findit

Using our online library, DTU Findit, as a point of departure, we explain how the database works, how to search effectively – and how one must adapt one’s search behaviour compared to, for example, searching in Google. In this context, we include exercises so that students can try out the search techniques.

Among other things, we address the following questions:

• What content are you searching?
• How do you sort search results?
• How do you access articles and books?
• How can you find relevant subject terms?
• How do you save searches and documents?
• How do you conduct an advanced search?
• How do you tag and share content in DTU Findit?
• How do you export references to reference management tools?