SEARCH STRATEGIES
Use wildcards (in case of to less search results)
You can use a wild-card or truncation (here it's the common: * ) to conduct a search in which you use
- the beginning of a word only e.g. cell* --> yields cell, cells, cellular, cell-cell communication...
- the word beginning and ending e.g. anti*al --> yields antifungal, antiviral, antibial
- the middle e.g. *vir* --> yields coronavirus, environment´, cytomegaloviruses, neurovirology
- the word ending e.g. *logical --> yields biological, biotechnological, microbiological, ecological, mechanobiological
- or if you wish to define certain letters as variables: behavi*r --> yields behavior, behaviour
Use Sorting and filter options or search suggestions (in case of too many, but less suitable search results)
- Sort function (above hit list): Sort by Score, title, author, year - preset Relevance
- Filter options (left): for example, Year, languages ...
- Search suggestions: "Did you mean ..." - or you use your own alternative concepts / synonyms
- Modify your search query via specifying several categories in the Advanced Search: Katalog-Recherche
NOT FOUND DESPITE FOLLOWING THOSE SEARCH STRATEGIES?
Contact us regarding what you need, perhaps we can purchase it or help otherwise.
PURPOSE OF THE SEARCH & EFFORT
The invested effort and which database or portal you could check depends also on what exactly you need:
| Aim/ purpose of the literature search | Effort / required material |
| To be up-to-date in a subject area | 4-5 well-founded article for a very first impression |
| Habilitation, Promotion | Thematic overview/ „sweeping swipe“, to broaden one's horizons |
| Diploma/ Bachelor/ Master thesis, seminal paper/ report, term paper | Is mostly an academic work for a PhD-student --> See above |
| To apply for a research fund | Comprehensive systematic review of previous research results |
| Contract and third party research, cooperation with the Economy, technology transfer, Patent Application | Well-founded and usually complex examination of the state of the art |
| Speech/ presentation, symposion, conference | Basic literature or latest articles or studies |