Guide to information searching

Information searching begins with a topic. This may be the topic of a research article, thesis, report, or another type of student assignment. The topic may be provided by a lecturer, or you may choose it yourself. Whenever possible, select a topic that aligns with your personal interests, as this helps maintain motivation throughout the writing process.

A good topic is more specific than a broad subject area. If a topic is too broad, the number of results is often very large and difficult to navigate. When narrowing down a topic, consider whether you can specify the population you are interested in (e.g. fish vs. freshwater fish), the field (e.g. agriculture vs. organic agriculture), the geographical area (e.g. Europe vs. the Nordic countries), or the time frame (e.g. the last 5, 10, or 30 years).

If a topic is too narrow, the number of results may be very limited, and you may need to broaden it. This can be done by using synonyms and related terms (e.g. using “climate awareness” or “green thinking” instead of “environmental awareness”), extending the time frame (e.g. 10–15 years instead of the last five), or expanding the geographical area (e.g. the Baltic states or the Nordic countries instead of Estonia).

In summary, a good topic is broad enough to provide sufficient information, yet narrow enough to remain manageable and within the scope of the assignment. Whether a topic should be narrowed or broadened ultimately depends on the purpose of the work.

Once you have a topic, think about the words you will use to search for information. Start by identifying the key concepts related to your topic, and then determine their synonyms, broader and narrower terms, as well as phrases that describe the topic. This process helps you build a comprehensive network of search terms.

The following tools can help you identify search terms:

a) Estonian Subject Thesaurus

The Estonian Subject Thesauruslink opens in new page is a multidisciplinary controlled vocabulary used for assigning Estonian-language subject terms to information resources. You can search the thesaurus for subject terms related to your topic and see how they are connected to broader and narrower terms. The thesaurus also provides English equivalents for Estonian subject terms.

b) Database thesauri

Most academic databases use their own subject term systems, or thesauri, to describe and index sources. These terms are sometimes more precise than the keywords chosen by authors themselves. For example, EBSCOhost includes a subject thesaurus that can be used when searching its databases.

c) Artificial intelligence tools (Copilot, ChatGPT, etc.)

You can ask an AI text tool which terms might be useful for searching for scholarly information related to your topic. If needed, you can also ask the tool to broaden, narrow, translate, or combine your topic and search terms.

d) Scholarly articles

If you have already found a relevant scholarly article, review its keywords the terms the authors have used to describe their – work. Keywords are often listed at the end of the article abstract.

Note! In different search environments, it's important to distinguish between search term and subject term search (Subject Terms):

• A search term is any word you use to find information (keywords, subject terms). This is the broadest type of search, where you can use any word you choose. The word entered into the search field will be looked for in source titles, content, keywords, author names, etc., and as a result, the matches may not always be thematically precise. Word search is typically the default search type in many environments (e.g., Google, databases). It is useful, for example, when the topic being researched is very new or very specific.
• A subject term has more specific meaning. A subject term is a standardized word or phrase that describes a main idea and contents of the document in a database. Subject term search can only be done using the specific terms in the search environment’s thesaurus. Subject term searching is much more precise than word searching and generally provides more relevant results.

Once your search terms have been defined, the next step is to choose an appropriate search environment that will best help you find information related to your research topic. The most important search environments are:

• EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) – Supersearch

A unified search tool provided by the EMU Library that allows you to search across multiple resources at once, including the ESTER e-catalogue, academic databases, the EMU DSpace digital repository, open-access scholarly journals, and more. Searching in this environment gives you an overview of a large number of (scholarly) sources. Supersearch is recommended as the starting point for your research.

• Databases

Databaseslink opens in new page licensed by EMU can be found on the library website under Resources → E-resources → Databases. Some databases are interdisciplinary (e.g. EBSCOhost), while others are more subject-specific (e.g. IEEE, BioOne, American Chemical Society).

• Artificial intelligence: Scopus AI

Scopus AI is an artificial intelligence–based tool that allows you to ask questions related to your research topic. It searches for answers within the abstracts of scholarly articles published in the last five years. The responses include references, making it easy to identify the original sources. In addition, Scopus AI generates a concept map based on the keywords of the retrieved articles, illustrating connections between topics and suggesting new research directions.

Note: Other databases also offer AI-based features, such as EBSCOhost and Supersearch (EBSCO Discovery Service) (e.g. the Generate AI Insights option for article summaries).

NB! To use databases licensed by EMU and Supersearch, you must either:
a) be connected to the EMU computer network,
b) set up an OpenVPN connection on your computer, or
c) in some cases, log in using institutional credentials.

More detailed information is available under Resources → E-resources → Remote access to e-resources.

• ESTER e-catalogue

ESTERlink opens in new page is the shared catalogue of major Estonian libraries. To find resources available at the EMU Library, select Estonian University of Life Sciences Library instead of All libraries in the search interface. To view all e-books purchased by EMU, enter EMU e-books in the keyword search.

• EMU DSpace

EMU DSpacelink opens in new page collects, preserves, and provides access to theses, publications, and research data created by members of the Estonian University of Life Sciences. The files are generally free to access. After the defense, the restriction of access to master’s, bachelor’s, and applied higher education’s theses is three months, unless otherwise stated.

• Google Scholar

Google Scholarlink opens in new page is a search engine for scholarly information, including journal articles, books, and conference papers. It works similarly to regular Google search and is easy to use. For each result, you can automatically generate citations in various citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). Google Scholar also shows how often a source has been cited, which can be one indicator of its reliability and impact.

Tip: When using Google Scholar within the EMU computer network, you can access many full-text articles that may otherwise be behind a paywall.

You have selected a topic, identified suitable search terms, and chosen a search environment. The next step is to think about how to combine these search terms.

In most search environments (e.g. Google, ESTER), a single basic search field is available by default. In this field, you can enter search terms and/or phrases related to your topic. In addition, you can use advanced search, which allows you to combine multiple search fields. Advanced search also lets you specify where the entered terms should be searched for, such as in titles, abstracts, or full text.

In both basic and advanced search, search terms can be combined using Boolean operators:

• AND – all terms connected by the operator must appear in the results
  Example: agriculture AND climate change
• OR – at least one of the connected terms must appear in the results
  Example: solar energy OR wind energy
• NOT – excludes the term that follows the operator
  Example: "renewable energy sources" NOT solar energy

In some databases, Boolean operators must be selected from a drop-down menu in the advanced search interface (e.g. EBSCOhost), while in others they must be entered manually (e.g. ScienceDirect).

Additional search techniques:

• Phrase searching
  Placing words in quotation marks searches for the exact phrase in the specified order.
  Examples: "renewable energy sources", "the impact of climate change on agriculture"
• Truncation
  Using an asterisk () allows you to search for different forms of a word (singular, plural, derived forms, etc.).
  Example: crop retrieves crop, crops, cropping, cropland.
  Note: The word stem should not be too short; for example, cat* will also retrieve results such as caterpillar and catastrophe.
• Natural language searching
  In several search environments, such as EBSCOhost, EBSCO Discovery Service, and Scopus AI, you can submit queries in natural language. This means you can type a question into the search box as you would ask it of a person, for example: How does fertilizer use affect soil fertility?

Note: Boolean operators and search techniques may vary slightly between different search environments.

It is often necessary to refine search results. In different search environments, this function may be labeled in various ways. For example, in the ESTER e-catalogue it appears as “Refine search”, while in English-language databases it may be called “Refine search”, “Limit search results”, “Filters”, or similar.

Search results can be refined using a range of criteria, such as:

• availability of full text,
• publication date,
• language,
• source type (book, journal article, conference proceedings, etc.).

Evaluating search results

Once sources have been found, it is important to assess their reliability and relevance. Evaluation criteria can generally be grouped into three main categories:

• Type of source

How is the information presented, and who is it intended for? Scholarly sources are written in academic language (including discipline-specific terminology) and follow a research-based structure (e.g. theory, methodology, results, discussion, and references that support the claims made). Popular science sources, by contrast, are written in simpler language for a general audience, often lack a fixed structure, and may not include references to original sources. At university level, it is strongly recommended to rely primarily on scholarly sources.

• Source credibility

Who is the author, and where has the source been published? The influence and citation impact of authors can be checked in scholarly databases such as Web of Science and Google Scholar. Credibility is also indicated when a source is published by a recognized academic institution or a reputable publisher, such as Oxford University Press or Statistics Estonia. Databases like Web of Science and Scopus focus on high-quality, peer-reviewed, and widely cited publications, making them particularly valuable for evaluating source reliability.

• Currency of the source

When was the source published? In general, it is advisable to seek the most recent sources, although the importance of currency varies by topic. For example, in technology-related fields, the age of a source may be critical due to rapid developments. At the same time, information searching also requires identifying key or foundational works that may be older but remain highly relevant.

Information searching does not necessarily end with refining search results. It is typically a circular process, where the results found may inspire further searches by suggesting new search terms, perspectives, or search environments.