1. How do I search for books and articles about Jack the Ripper?
- Identify the keywords of your topic and use those as your search words
- Each article has tags assigned to it, words or shorts phrases that make them searchable - you want your search words to match those tags
- Words like factors, effects, issues, relationships, impact are usually not used as tags - don't include them as search words
- Example topic: How did Victorian attitudes towards prostitution affect the Jack the Ripper case?
- A search about this topic could be: "jack the ripper" Victorian attitude* prostitut*
- "jack the ripper" searches for it as a phrase, not three separate words
- prostitut* searches for all words that begin with the word stem prostitut, i.e. prostitute, prostitutes, prostitution
2. How do I focus the search hits to articles that are relevant to my research interests?
- Use Refine Your Search options to focus your search hits
- Under Discipline, click on the disciplines relevant to your interest area, for example history and archaeology, sociology & social history, law, psychology, women's studies
- Under Subjects, click on subject areas relevant to your interest area, for example criminology, history and criticism, homicide, human behavior, mass media, politics, prostitution, psychological aspects, sexuality, social aspects, social history
3. How do I know my search words match the tags assigned to articles about my research question?
- As you scroll through the search hits, look at the Subjects (tags) assigned to the relevant articles you find, and see if they match your search words
- Subjects (tags) also help you identify the specific populations or issues in your research area
4. If I find an article I really like, how I can I find articles which have subsequently cited it?
- Click the number in the shaded Web of Science or Scopus boxes below the article summary in the list of search hits for a list of articles which cited that article
- This is a good way to follow the research trail of your articles.
