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Searching for Literature

This guides covers the steps involved when searching for literature along with instructions and tips for conducting effective searches and managing your information.

Assess the quality of your resources

Once you have identified that a resource is useful and relevant to your research, it is important to assess the quality of the information for credibility, reliability and accuracy.

Consider the following:

  • What is the target audience of the resource? Does this align with the audience you wish to target with your publication?
  • Is the resource current? Are there more recent publications you can use instead?
  • Is the publication peer reviewed? If not, how can you tell if it is an authoritative resource?
  • How accurate is the information being presented? Think about whether you need to verify the information using another resource.
  • Does the resource contain bias? How easy is it to discover the bias?
  • Ask colleagues and supervisors for resource recommendations based on their discipline expertise and experience.
  • Critically evaluate potential impact, reputation and reach before you submit your work.
  • Check the websites of official associations and societies that are popular or reputable in your discipline. Associated journals and conferences will often be advertised or promoted through these organisations.

Tests for assessing the quality of resources

Use a tool such as SIFT, TRAAP or CRAAP (below) to help assess the quality of your resources.

Currency: how current is the information?

  • Was it published recently?
  • Is it still relevant?
  • Will older sources work as well?

Relevance: how relevant is the information?

  • Does it directly relate to your topic?
  • Could there be something more relevant that you could use instead?
  • Is the information written at the appropriate level?

Authority: who has written the information?

  • Can you easily discover who the author is?
  • Are they qualified in the subject area?
  • Is there contact information available?

Accuracy: how accurate is the information?

  • How can you tell that it is accurate?
  • Has the information been review?
  • Can you verify the information elsewhere?

Purpose: what is the purpose of the information?

  • Is it clear?
  • Does it present an impartial viewpoint?
  • Is any bias present i.e. political, ideological, etc?

The following checklists can also be useful for determining the quality of resources in which to publish:

Choosing where to publish

After assessing the quality of your publications, you may need some guidance about where to publish your own research.

Be aware of predatory publishers who solicit content from researchers and charge high publication fees without providing any of the traditional services offered by reputable publishers or conferences, such as editing, peer-review, archiving and marketing.

Predatory publishers may also solicit researchers to sit on their editorial boards or entice graduate students to publish their thesis or dissertation without proper editorial oversight or regard for academic integrity.

The following can help you identify quality resources in which to publish to avoid the pitfalls of predatory publishing. 

Resources for selecting journals

Many resources are available to assist in selecting an appropriate journal for publication.

Journal publisher selection tools

Publisher selection tools use technology to match your paper to scientific journals that could be best suited for publishing your work. The following is a selection of these tools.

Quality indicators and impact

Two of the most highly used tools for discovering information about the quality and impact of a journal are:

Additional journal quality information, tools and metrics can be found in the Research Impact: Citations and Metrics library guide.

Conferences

While many conferences are legitimate events that provide the opportunity to showcase your work and connect with like minded scholars, predatory conferences exist where authors receive unsolicited requests to submit papers solely for profit. These conferences may be poorly organised or do not offer peer review, or they may not take place at all. 

Conference directories 

Use a conference directory such as the examples below to help you make informed decisions about which conferences to attend.

The Think. Check. Attend. conference checklist can help you decide whether to submit a paper or attend a conference.

Review the warning signs for predatory conferences so you know what to look for.