{"id":45,"date":"2019-11-15T09:18:34","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T09:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/yourdissertation\/?p=45"},"modified":"2019-11-15T09:18:34","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T09:18:34","slug":"top-5-tips-if-youre-stuck-with-your-dissertation-literature-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/yourdissertation\/2019\/11\/15\/top-5-tips-if-youre-stuck-with-your-dissertation-literature-search\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 tips if you’re stuck with your dissertation literature search"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you stuck with the literature search for your dissertation or final year project? Not finding as much on your topic as you hoped? Here are 5 suggestions to help you move forward.<\/em><\/p>\n

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1. Look again at your search strategy.<\/h1>\n

By this I mean identifying terminology and keywords \u2013 also geographical or date limits for your search . Consider alternative terminology e.g. synonyms, alternative spellings, variant terminology, changes in terminology over time, abbreviations, etc. Increase the number of relevant keywords and you increase the potential of finding good material.<\/p>\n

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Example of basic research question, highlighting the main topics\/concepts and thinking of alternative keywords that could be used for these topics\/concepts.<\/p><\/div>\n

2. Revisit your starting point.<\/h1>\n

I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve already carried out some scoping searches. Where did you start to do these \u2013 Google Scholar<\/a>? DiscoverEd<\/a>? Remember that in both of these discovery tools you can choose the Advanced Search function for more effective searching with multiple keywords or search strings. If you are using Google Scholar make sure in the settings you have the Library Links for University of Edinburgh enabled \u2013\u00a0 the short video Adding full-text links on Google Scholar (0:50) <\/a>shows you how to do this.
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