Tips for Searching Online Databases
When you are searching with multiple keywords or search terms:
Consider limiting your search by:
You can keep phrases together by putting quotation marks around them, i.e. "fake news"
| Clues to look at | Scholarly | Trade | Popular |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Academics or experts in the field, with credentials and affiliations clearly listed | Practitioners or educators in the field | Paid journalists |
| Language | Technical or scholarly, often requires knowledge of discipline and jargon to fully understand | Has industry jargon, assumes a background in the field | Easy to read |
| Look | Usually black and white, sometimes charts or drawings but little colour or pictures | Glossy paper, with colourful pictures and industry-related advertisements | Glossy, colourful, full of pictures and advertisements |
| Abstracts (very short summary of the article) | Generally present | Generally absent | Absent |
| Reference List | Bibliographies or footnotes always present, and generally substantial | Short bibliographies may be present | Absent |
| Intended audience | Academics | Other practitioners in the field | General public |
| Article Length | Long articles, often split into sections like abstract, introduction, methods, discussion | Varies | Shorter articles |
