1. Developing Keywords
Keywords are essential to researching. Break down your topic into keywords. Create a list of words or phrases that will help your search. Think of concepts or ideas that are related to your main topic - find words with similar meanings, synonyms.
2. Phrase Searching
Use quotation marks " " for a phrase, i.e. when your keyword is made up of two or more words. Your result will be more accurate, as the engine searches for this very specific phrase.
3. Boolean operators
These search operators help to narrow or broaden your search - like AND, OR, NOT.
AND finds records containing both terms - to narrow the search.
OR finds records containing either one or both terms. This broadens the search. It can also be used to account for variant spellings. For example:
NOT finds records containing the first term, but not the second term - it excludes.
4. Truncation
Using the asterisk symbol * enables you to chop off unnecessary word endings - so only the stem of a word is looked at by the search engine.
This is very useful for finding a broader range of results - as the search engine will come up with plural or singular endings, nouns, verbs, adjectives, AE or BE spelling.
| Most of the articles are full text, please note that some databases include links to full text articles (through the 360 Link button). This may redirect to a new page. |
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An abstract is a concise summary of the contents of an article. It is written using keywords (search terms) so that other researchers can easily find it through database searching. Please note that we may not have a subscription to the full text of the article. If you are final year student or postgraduate, you can apply for an inter-library loan. |
If you would like to find a particular journal article that you have come across on your reading list, etc. you can easily search for this on the Library Catalogue. It is even easier, if you have the reference for this article.
Our reference example above is in Harvard style. However, no matter what referencing style you have in front of you - determining the various components of a reference is a practical skill to possess.
Please see the help guide below for detailed information on finding a journal article or journal.
You do not need a LSBU username and password to access these databases:
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.
