Understand how to find useful sources of information for research and how to explore what you find.
Searching puts planning into practice. It involves implementing a search strategy, navigating and exploring the results, using the interfaces and features of different search tools and databases and deciding what to do next. This broad skill set comprises several sub-skills that are developed as you, or your students, progress through the different stages of study.
Teaching this skill? Read on to see the learning objectives associated with each level, or click here to skip straight to our teaching case studies.
Select the boxes below to view the learning objectives for each level.
Learning objectives
Explore the library search engine and understand that the results of Academic search tools are different to those returned by basic internet searches and why.
Recognise how Keyword-based information searching differs from AI-assisted search features or conversational AI prompting, which is based on ‘Natural language’.
Navigate search results and refine them using the available Filters (i.e. by resource type, location, or language).
Access results from searches such as e-books or journal articles. Use the features of an e-book reader, where available.
Apply developing knowledge of the discipline to understand when further searching is needed.
Recognise how Academic integrity responsibilities might apply to searching. Consider these responsibilities when evaluating whether the use of AI might form part of a search strategy or when encountering an AI search tool.
Recognise that AI-assisted search tools may provide incomplete, inaccurate, or unverifiable results, and critically assess their coverage and transparency in comparison to academic search tools.
Resources and activities
Visit our topic guide to find more information on planning a search, where to search, and searching with AI – focus on the ‘Understanding Your Search’ and ‘Using Library Search’ pages.
Try combining a set of key words in Library Search. Vary how you combine the keywords and try combining variations of key word concepts using synonyms. See how your search results vary. Try using search filters to make the results of a search more manageable.
Learning objectives
Adopt advanced search techniques, including Filters (such as date range, language, or resource type) to refine results and combine search terms (with Truncation and operators such as AND/OR).
Distinguish between the interfaces of databases and employ distinct strategies for searching them (including Controlled vocabulary).
Demonstrate flexibility in accessing material through a range of platforms, such as navigating the catalogue of a journal on a publisher's website or searching via a database.
Understand how to acquire material (Document supply) found when searching which is not contained in the library’s collections.
Complement keyword searching with Citation searching to understand the development of ideas through time.
Understand how AI tools generate article summaries and other search outputs, and critically assess their accuracy, relevance, and limitations before deciding whether and how to use them when exploring or assessing search results.
Look at the range of databases available through the Library databases page – find suitable databases for your subject area, and attempt to access relevant material.
Check back here for more resources and activities!
Contact your Research and Academic Support Librarian for support with searching.
Try this now!
Choose a topic you are currently researching and run two searches: start with a keyword search using your main concepts; refine it using synonyms with OR, combine concepts with AND, and apply filters such as data, language, or resource type. Compare the results; what changed and did the refinement make the results more useful?
Learning objectives
Approach searching rigorously, which means methodically reviewing the literature in the subject area by searching a range of interdisciplinary and subject-specialist databases.
Approach the navigation and exploration of new kinds of information resource by applying transferrable search skills.
Explore the full range of functionality that databases offer to refine and iterate searches, combining filters, operators,Proximity searching, etc. to optimise results.
Bulk export citation data from search results for storage in reference management software.
Engage with specialist collections and archival materials held at different institutions, through interlibrary loan, SCONUL access, or direct engagement with archivists, as appropriate to the research area.
Make considered and deliberate decisions about whether to involve artificial intelligence in the search process – whether in generating keywords or assessing results – by evaluating the benefits and limitations of AI tools compared with those of academic search tools.
Explore the topic guidance on searching for news resources, if relevant to your research area: Searching – Newspapers
Consider whether your project might benefit from resources available beyond the Library – in a specialist archive or another library. Make a plan: how are you going to access this material.
The skills of searching for and exploring information are most effectively nurtured when developed within the context of a student’s discipline and assessed work – by showing students examples that are relevant to their context and demonstrating what kinds of resources can be accessed in subject-specialist databases. The case studies below provide examples of where these skills, and library instruction, have been integrated into modular teaching and departmental skills provision.
The Research and Academic Services division can work with you to identify the searching skills most relevant to your students, design activities using subject-specific examples and resources, and embed teaching within your module or programme.
The first-year Philosophy module PH146 Reason, Argument and Analysis integrates Library teaching in small-group teaching to support students with their first assignment. In the session, students write a Boolean search query for their chosen essay title, and run their search in Library Search, developing general literature search skills. They are then split into smaller groups and assigned either a multi-disciplinary database (Web of Science, Scopus, or Google Scholar), or a subject-specialist database (Philpapers or Philosopher’s Index); they run their search again, comparing the functionality and results with Library Search, and feed back to the class about their database. The feedback provides an overview of the different literature search databases, focusing on coverage and search functionality, and the Librarian fills any gaps in their feedback. This feeds into a later section on evaluating literature.
At Warwick Medical School, third-year MBChB students are required to take a research block called Student Selected Component 2 (SSC2). Many students undertake a systematic search as part of this, and the Medical Librarians provide a lecture covering search resources, search techniques, reference management, and signpost to screening software (such as Rayyan). The students are encouraged to engage with asynchronous online courses on conducting a systematic literature review and using Medline, after which, they attend one-to-one sessions with the Librarians to address any questions. Many students arrive to the one-to-one sessions primed with questions and seeking feedback on their searches and search strategies. Some students then book repeat or follow-on sessions or send copies of their searches for feedback via email.
English and Comparative Literary Studies (as well as joint English-Theatre and English-History) undergraduates take a compulsory academic enrichment module in their first and second years to support academic skill development. The Library runs two sessions on the module which focus on understanding different types of academic source and searching. Students are introduced to journal articles, monographs, edited collections, etc., and examine their different purposes. Students are then introduced to the Library search tool and explore the print resources held in the Library. In the second session, students explore the Library’s online databases, formulate a search strategy, and then use subject-specialist databases to test their search strategy.
As part of the introductory weeks of the Master’s in Education Reconstruction, two integrated Library sessions are offered. The first introduces the skills of searching and to the kinds of Library resources available at Warwick. Students are taught how to develop a search strategy, and then implement their strategy in subject-specialist and interdisciplinary databases. As well as practicing evaluation, students are then taught advanced techniques such as citation searching, and are introduced to specialist newspaper resources and the associated Library topic guide. This is followed by a second session on reference management, in which students are taught to export citations from search tools into a reference management software such as EndNote or Zotero, and what to do with exported citations.
The doctorate in Clinical Psychology is run jointly between Warwick and Coventry University. The course is run from Warwick from the second-year onwards, at which point the Psychology Librarians run a transition session, in which students are re-introduced to the resources available here. One-to-one sessions are available for students to sign up to.
As part of an Applied Linguistics research group project, a two-part session was run for an international research group conducting a multi-continent scoping review. The first part covered search techniques and database use, including filtering, exclusion criteria, and saving searches and results. Participants were given the opportunity to try searching their chosen databases, and were shown how to explore and analyse their results using inbuilt features, where available. This is followed by a demonstration of citation export, and a demonstration of the use of reference management software (Zotero).
As part of a doctoral or ECR integrated skills programme, we are happy to provide sessions on advanced search techniques, citation searching, specialist subject databases, responsible AI use in the search process, evaluating AI search tools (and traditional databases), searching beyond the Library’s collections, and searching across multiple databases, as well as any of the other skills set out in the learning objectives – either in isolation, or in combination with skills from any of the other skill strands.
Contact us
We are developing the teaching provision (and case studies) arising from this framework on an ongoing basis. Please get in touch if you have any feedback, or would like to propose a session as part of your programme: contact us.
