Introduction
Now is the time to determine whether you are satisfied with the process and results or whether you need to repeat the search using different or more specific search terms.
Results
Once you've completed your search, you can determine whether your search has been successful. Your search likely generated a lot of results, but that does not mean all of them are relevant or will help you answer your research question. Even if your results are relevant, you may have missed other important information.
Ask yourself the following questions (Sieverts, 2008) when assessing the relevance of your search results:
Do my results contain irrelevant information? If so, why?
- You didn't include enough search terms in the best match search
- You didn't combine enough elements in the Boolean search
- One or more keywords in a specific text are not relevant
- You used words with multiple definitions
- The search engine searched for irrelevant word variations
- Elements that were hard to specify were omitted
- The full text included too many irrelevant words
Did I miss any relevant information? If so, why?
- You didn't use the right information source
- You combined too many elements in your search question
- Your search included typos or spelling mistakes
- The words set off by quotation marks limited your search range
- There were too many spelling variations
- The terms were too general
- The element was hard to specify
Happy with your results?
Well done!
We wish you the best of luck with your report or thesis!