The information seeking process includes several steps. This guide will help you get to know the different steps of the information seeking process. Among others, this guide provides you with tips for creating search terms, choosing information sources, and using the information critically and ethically.
Process steps:
Finding search terms (search words and phrases) is one of the most important and time-consuming parts of the information seeking process, because the search terms will determine if the search is successful or not. The search terms can be freely chosen words or subject terms defined in thesauri. Keywords are usually in the basic form, not complete sentences. Note that the words you use to describe your search topic may not be the same as those used to find publications on your topic in databases.
Take time to come up with words and phrases to use in your search. Think what is important in your research topic and what you want to find more information on. The aim is to identify the main concepts of the topic and turn those concepts into search terms.
Dictionaries and thesauri are useful when you are looking for search terms. Also, literature in your subject will help you find suitable words to use as search terms. Pay special attention to synonyms, as well as to broader or narrower terms, concepts, and acronyms. For many concepts there is a fixed acronym, e.g. HRM - human resource management. Use both to search for information.
A good way to start information seeking is to pick two or three central terms that describe your search topic. Try to search with words that you have come up with, as well as controlled subject terms found in thesauri. Trying out and combining different types of search terms it's easy to either broaden or limit your search to get an overview of what's been written about your topic before.
In international databases the search language is usually English. You can use dictionaries to choose search terms, for example MOT Online Dictionaries. More information on how to use MOT Online is available at the i button next to the link below.
Video: Search Keywords Tutorial, Ray W. Howard Library at Shoreline Community College (CC BY-NC 3.0).
A controlled vocabulary or a thesaurus helps information suppliers and seekers use a common language to make information easier to find. Using subject terms helps you find material suitable for your research topic.
Subject terms describe the main content of publications in databases. They may also be called subject headings, descriptors, or just subjects. Subject terms are not just any words that describe a topic, but specific words that follow a set of rules and are collected in a thesaurus. Often subject terms in plural form describe topics that are concrete and quantifiable. Topics that are abstract or describe actions are in singular.
A controlled vocabulary/thesaurus is a list where one term describes an equivalent concept.
Thesauri also show relations between the terms. Possible alternate terms and synonyms are limited so that only one term is used for all the words that describe the same concept. You can see the hierarchy and relations between terms in a thesaurus, for example:
Notice that a related term is not the same as a synonym, but it is an adjacent term. Related terms help you find other subject terms linked to a specific concept.
If your search does not provide you with enough good results, try searching with a broader term. If, on the other hand, you get too many references, use a narrower term. Sometimes thesauri may also give you the correct subject term to describe a concept instead of the word you have used.
Thesauri may be general and independent of databases and subject matter. For example, the most commonly used controlled vocabulary/thesaurus in Finland is one, YSO - General Finnish Ontology. YSO is part of Finto, Finnish thesaurus and ontology service, which also includes several subject-specific thesauri.
Databases may have their own thesauri and because of that you should always check what subject terms are used in each database for information seeking. Subject terms can often be found under e.g. Thesaurus, Subject Terms, Subject Headings, or Subjects in databases.
Basic search in Turku UAS Finna is a keyword search. In a keyword search the search targets all the descriptive information of publications (title, author, subject terms, etc.).
In advanced search you can target your search to only subject terms. Limit the search to subject terms by choosing Subject in the dropdown menus.
In Turku UAS Finna, you can see all the subject terms by clicking on Show all details. Subject terms can be found under Subjects. By clicking on a subject term, you can find other books in the same subject.
NOTE: YSO - General Finnish Ontology, is used widely in Turku UAS Finna. However, the subject terms are generally in Finnish in Turku UAS Finna, so remember to check the Finnish versions when using YSO in English!
In information seeking you combine individual search terms into search strings. To combine search terms you will use search operators AND, OR, and NOT. You do not always have to write the operators yourself: Some databases have advanced searches where search operators are available between search fields. The search operators are also called Boolean operators after their inventor.
NOTE: Write AND, OR and NOT operators with capital letters even if the database suggests operators with lowercase letters.
NOTE: The area in green in the diagrams signifies what is included in the search results.
AND operator tells the database that all your search terms must be present in the search results. This reduces the number of search results. For example, when searching for materials that discuss both renewable energy and attitudes towards it, you combine the search terms with AND operator: "renewable energy" AND attitudes.
OR operator tells the database that at least one of the search words must be present in the search results. Using OR increases the number of search results because it gives the database optional words to search for. You can use OR to search for synonyms, for example green OR renewable OR sustainable. You can also combine related terms, for example "wind power" OR "solar power", acronyms or broader and narrower terms.
NOT operator tells the database that the search term cannot be included in the search results. This reduces the number of search results significantly. Be careful when using NOT as it might exclude relevant results too. Example: "renewable energy" NOT "wind power".
Watch the video below on how to use search operators.
Video: Boolean operators, North Carolina State University Libraries / libncsu (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
You can combine different Boolean operators in your search string. When you come up with alternate search terms for all of your search topics, combine them with OR, and then combine these groups with AND. You get the widest possible search result by combining regular words (search terms/keywords) with subject terms from thesauri.
If you write the operators yourself, use parentheses to specify the order in which the search terms are searched. Terms within parentheses are read first. For example: ("green energ*" OR "renewable energ*" OR "clean energ*") AND (benefit* OR "positive effect*" OR importance OR impact* OR advantage*) AND (cost* OR price* OR expense* OR money* OR financ*). Without parentheses most databases will read the terms combined with AND first, which will change the search result.
See how to combine search terms in Finna's advanced search.
Use term truncation or wildcards to include different word endings and spellings in the search results. Truncation or wildcard is marked with an asterisk (*) or a question mark (?) depending on the database and the function you use. Truncation is useful in English search terms, because British and American English spellings vary, like in words organisation - organization, analyse - analyze, behaviour - behavior, colour - color, etc.
Check the database instructions to make sure you are using the right special character. Some databases use automatic truncation and truncation symbols are not needed.
Example from Finna:
Use search phrases if you want to search for an exact phrase (two or more words in a specific order). Search engines will search phrases marked with quotation marks in the given order and form. For example, compound words such as social media or management models would need quotation marks around them in a search.
Add quotation marks around the search phrase, for example "social media", "management models".
Many databases allow truncation inside quotation marks at the end of the last search word, for example "management model*".
You can refine or filter your search in different ways:
This guide has instructions and information on the Turku UAS library services for research.
NOTE: You may end up in other guides through the links in this guide, use the backspace button to return.
Guide to Information Seeking has lots of additional material about the information seeking process:
The easiest way to find articles is to use databases the library has bought for Turku UAS students and staff. There's also a wide range of open access articles available online.
Read the Guide to Article Search on how to find articles and get access to all the articles acquired by Turku UAS Library.
Open Access (OA) offers free and legal access to scholarly publications, but online you may wander into different pirate sites that have obtained the articles entirely without permission and against copyright law. Pirate sites may claim to be open access platforms, but they do not represent the views of scholarly publishers, researchers, or libraries on open access. If you are using these sites, you use them at your own risk, so make sure your personal details will not leak into the use of these sites.
Black OA (illegal shadow libraries)
Publications are illegally deposited or harvested in breach of copyright laws from the platforms of scholarly publishers into so-called shadow libraries, such as Sci-Hub or Library Genesis (LibGen). These pirate sites obtain publications illegally, so using them violates copyright and agreements between researchers, libraries, and scholarly publishers. In addition, articles posted on researcher social networking services, such as ResearchGate or Academia.edu, without (the publisher's) permission are considered Black OA.
Please be careful! The library does not recommend downloading materials illegally online. Please contact the library kirjasto@turkuamk.fi if you need an article that you do not have access to or cannot find online.
The pirate site Sci-Hub was founded by Alexandra Elbakyan in Kazakhstan in 2011 as a reaction to copyright limitations and expensive access fees to scholarly articles. Sci-Hub's content has been obtained illegally and it has been in legal battles with US scholarly publishers. In the court cases, the site has been proven illegal and has changed its domain several times.
More information:
Enago Academy, "Is Pirate Black Open Access Disrupting Green & Gold Open Access?" Enago Academy. July 10, 2023. https://www.enago.com/academy/pirate-black-open-access-disrupting-green-gold-open-access/.
Library of Alexandra, podcast: https://radiolab.org/podcast/library-alexandra
Turku UAS students and staff have a right to use electronic resources acquired by Turku UAS in studying, teaching, and research. Students and staff have a responsibility to follow the user rights. User rights define the terms and conditions for printing, saving, presenting, and distributing e-resources. User rights for an individual resource can be found under the § button in the User rights of individual e-resources list below.
This resource has been licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. It does not apply to photos or videos unless otherwise stated.
