- Searching in the Right Places

The information you are looking for is always linked to a source, but which one?

The possibility of getting good search results increases as a result of the preparation you spend on your search question. To search for a single word on a search service on the internet, a database or a library catalogue will often give you a long result list where the relevant hits are mixed with so many irrelevant hits, that you give up when you’ve only gone through a fraction of the results. Very rarely is there only one entrance where you can ask your question and get the results you need. You have to search in different places.

But where to look if you are searching for information about how the Swedes emigrated to other countries? In articles (which papers?), encyclopaedias (web based, at the library?), webpages (can I trust them?) etc. We will look into this further in the next chapter. The most important point of reference for choosing a source is what are you going to use the information for? You may also have to think about if you have the time to wait a few days before you get what you need. It can be helpful when choosing your search to think about the following:

In order to find different information searches, you have to use different search tools.

Books - usually printed, sometimes electronically

In order to see which books, not articles, there are in the library, search the library catalogue for both all of Sweden (Libris) and at the Lund University Libraries (Lovisa).

Articles - Sometimes printed, sometimes electronic, depending on the subject.

It is easiest to find them in specific databases, however, sometimes you will not be able to get hold of the articles in full but will be referred to printed copies or to electronic articles that Lund University does not subscribe to.

Websites - Electronic

catalogues on the Internet can give you access not only to chosen webpages within certain subjects, from a specific country or for a targeted group, but also to a general search engine with millions of web pages containing files in different formats.

Example: In order to find statistics you need a collection of facts, like SCB’s yearbooks. The literature about Swedish emigration can be found in databases (in order to find articles) and library catalogues (for books).

Which information sources do you need to use for your question? Do our quiz.