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Sport Sciences: Searching effectively

Searching tips

Tip 1: Think of your keywords and use AND to link them

It is important that you don't just search for a whole sentence or question and instead think carefully about what are your most important keywords

e.g. How has gentrification affected local communities in London?

Your keywords would be gentrification AND local communities AND London

Tip 2: Come up with alternate keywords (synonyms) and connect with OR

The database will just search for the keywords you enter into the search box, therefore you need to think about all the different ways something might be described 

e.g. gentrification may also be described as "urban renewal" OR "urban development"

Tip 3: Use quotation marks when searching for phrases

In order to keep two or more words together as a phrase, enclose them in quotation marks

e.g. "local communities" will look for the phrase "local communities" rather than individual words, "local" and "communities".

Tip 4: Use Truncation for words that start the same but may have different endings

A number of databases allow you to use the asterisk symbol * to save you time

e.g.  gentrif* will find gentrification, gentrifier, gentrify, gentrifying etc.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar Search

To access articles in Google scholar at home you can add in the library's subscriptions:

  • Click Search above to open a new window
  • Go to the 3 bar icon in the upper left corner
  • Select the cog wheel to open Settings
  • Select Library links from the left hand column
  • Search for London South Bank University - Full-Text @ LSBU
  • Tick the box to add our collections in to the search

You computer will remember this choice until you clear your cookies/cache. You do not need to do this step if you are on campus. 

Trouble Accessing A Resource

Getting an error message when you try to access our e-resources? You may need to try a different browser (Chrome, Firefox, IE) or device, or clear your cache.

If you are unable to access one of our journal articles, e-books, or other online resources, you can contact our e-Resources Team who are able to assist. Please use this form to contact the team https://lsbu-uk.libwizard.com/f/E-Resources_Access  including details of the item you are trying to access along with a screenshot of any error message. This will send your details to the e-Resources Team at llreres@lsbu.ac.uk 

 

Should service issues occur, there is an alternative links page available for a select number of resources.

 

Search Strategy Worksheet document