You would like to know how to conduct a literature search for your academic paper, but you just don’t know what steps to take exactly?
Bing, Bing, Bing – Jackpot!
You have just found the solution.
Because in this article, I will give you a complete guide – on how to systematically search through the libraries and literature databases of your university and the Internet.
After just a few hours, you will have a complete overview of relevant literature for your topic and you can finally start writing.
I have divided the process of the literature search into 3 steps, which you can easily follow in sequence.
After this video, searching for academic literature will be easier than searching on Google for a recipe for mushroom risotto – I promise!
Get an Overview of the Popular Discourse #1
Educate Yourself
At the beginning of your literature search for your academic paper, you should get a general overview.
- How is the topic of your term paper perceived in the media?
- What controversies exist around this topic?
- In which regions of the world is it particularly relevant?
- What does Wikipedia say about it?
The first baby steps towards an outstanding term paper require a basic understanding of your research subject. It is perfectly fine to look into popular science literature and casually read up on the topic.
Simply put, you just use Google and see what you can find.
You should understand this step on how to conduct a literature search more as some self-education for yourself rather than a gathering of sources that you can cite.
Save the links of some (online) newspaper articles that contain useful information in a list in case you need them later.
Collect some Numbers
Here are some helpful platforms that you can also search:
- statista.com
- census.gov
- data.gov
- Google Public Data
- United Nations Statistics Division
If your academic paper ends up with 2-3 internet sources, that’s perfectly fine. The introduction is particularly suitable for citing such sources. After all, the presence of a topic in the mass media or political agendas can prove its relevance.
To really proceed systematically, take notes. The more articles and statistics you read, the better you get a feel for the important terms related to your topic. Write them down and create a pool of keywords. These are particularly important for the next step.
Online Search in Academic Databases #2
Google Scholar
Now you are delving into academic literature. From your notes, extract (at least) the 3 most important keywords for your literature search.
A first point of reference for the literature search can be Google Scholar. Google’s database indexes almost all academic papers and books. However, sometimes it will also list articles that are a bit shady or have not been subject to peer review.
This is because if you use Google Scholar, you need a very good understanding of what constitutes a good academic journal and what is trash.
Nevertheless, if you find articles that have been cited a lot (think 100 or more citations) by reputable journals and authors, you can assume that it is a legitimate article.
But be careful, sometimes supervisors do not like it if their students use Google Scholar because of the reasons I just mentioned. Ask your supervisor how they feel about it – then you are on the safe side.
Scientific Databases
Now let’s move to the next step on how to conduct a literature search.
From the websites of your university library, your department, and an email to your supervisor (“Which 3 literature databases can you recommend for my academic paper?”), you now gather (at least) the 5 most important databases in your research discipline.
There you enter your keywords into the search bar and download anything that seems relevant to you. Use the keywords in different combinations and their synonyms.
Collect all research articles you find in a folder on your PC so that you don’t lose track. For even more overview, you can create subfolders for each keyword. For example, if you are writing a paper on employer branding of IT companies for Generation Y, your keywords would be “employer branding”, “Generation Y”, and “IT”, including possible variations of them.
It is very important that you create a list of the most important databases in your discipline.
Instructors are thrilled if you ask them about it. In addition, there are some overarching databases that contain articles from almost all disciplines:
To be able to access those databases, you need a license. Universities hold a variety of these licenses – you just need to be in the university WiFi.
If you want to conduct the literature search from home or anywhere else in the world, you will need a VPN access. Check the pages of your university to see how to install it on your computer, or go to the technology support department at your university in person.
Offline Search in your Library #3
Try Online First
While reviewing your electronic sources, you will come across some standard works that are cited repeatedly. Most likely, they are also relevant to your work. To keep the effort as minimal as possible, proceed as follows:
Create a list on which you collect book titles that seem relevant to you.
First, search the literature databases from step 2 to see if they are available there as a PDF version.
Go to your university library’s website and search the catalog. Many books have now been digitized or purchased by universities in electronic form. If this is the case, you can simply find them through the catalog search and download them as a PDF (on the university network).
If the corresponding books are not electronically available, then there is only one option:
a trip to the library.
Your Last Resort
Only after you have completely checked your book list for online availability is it worthwhile to visit the library. You should keep this effort as minimal as possible because the time at the counter, on the bus, and between the shelves can be better used.
During my studies, I may have borrowed a total of 10 books, had to pay around 50 euros in fees because I returned them late, and they did not bring great added value to my academic papers.
Another time-consuming task is excerpting, that is, creating text passages from books and then transferring them from handwriting to digital form. With electronic sources, everything runs smoothly with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.
However, in some disciplines or subject areas, you simply can’t write your papers without standard works. In this case, I can only recommend that you finish your online literature search first and then borrow and return all the books (not too many) in one go.
The Right Mix of Sources
As we have seen, there are different types of sources available to you. Roughly, they can be divided into 3 groups:
- Internet sources (reports, newspaper articles, etc.)
- Research articles (journal or conference papers)
- Books (and book chapters)
It’s not possible to say which type of sources is best suited for your an academic paper, because each discipline has its own way of publishing research.
Ask your supervisor or lecturer about this (this question is also very well received).
Ask them: What proportion of internet sources, research articles, and books would you recommend?
My personal recommendation for an academic paper in a discipline of the social sciences would be:
5% internet sources 10% books 85% research articles (papers)
But as I said, it really depends on the discipline and topic. Someone who needs an 80-year-old sociological theory for their work will not be able to avoid a few more books.
However, someone who is investigating the influence of chatbots on customer service in online retail will not find a suitable book on the topic, because before a book about chatbots is published and ends up in your university library, we will all have a robot monkey on our shoulder and be zipping around in flying taxis.