Searching like a pro. Online course on literature searching.

Literature search is fundamental to every academic work – be it a presentation, a term paper or a thesis. In this online course, participants will familiarize themselves with the most important strategies and tips for literature search. The first chapter introduces the topic of academic work and literature search and offers a technique to assess the quality of literature sources. The second chapter highlights two search strategies that differ according to the starting point of a search (specific bibliographic information or a topic). The third chapter focuses on different search spaces for a specific search (Internet, library catalogue, subject database). It is followed by the chapter four, which introduces a variety of search strategies and valuable tips for an efficient search, e.g. truncation, snowball method, or the use of a thesaurus. The final chapter focuses on the question „what do I do with my search results?“ It offers various tips for ensuing steps as to how to proceed with the information retrieved, e.g. the use of reference management programmes, data back-up, time management etc.