Don't forget to apply GenAI tools when exploring literature!
You can benefit from the ChatBot by understanding complicated notions, summarizing long articles, and generating new insights. Scholarly Search Engine offers discovery of academic articles and resources for further exploration.
We recommend you use Scite, an innovative AI-powered platform that revolutionizes how researchers, students, and academics engage with scientific literature. Check out this LibGuide on how it works!
For further tool recommendations, see our LibGuide on Generative AI for Learning and Research.
Are you feeling overwhelmed by your research project and not sure what to do? Look no further than our expert librarians, who are here to guide you every step of the way! Click to make an appointment now!
Once you have nailed down your research topic, it’s time to build a solid research strategy to guide your path.
Start by breaking your topic into key concepts and keywords that you can use for searching. Think about what types of sources you will need—are you looking for academic articles, books, or maybe even interviews and audiovisual materials? Next, make a plan for where to find your information. This could mean diving into the library for books, accessing relevant databases, checking out online journals, or exploring reputable websites. Check out our LibGuide on Thesis and Essay Writing for more tips on how to search strategically.
OneSearch is the gateway to access the extensive collection of resources acquired or subscribed to by the HSUHK Library. Click to master the skills in using this critical tool that you will surely benefit from.
Tips: During the exploration, you will encounter a massive amount of literature. Make good use of a citation management tool to keep track of your sources and make notes whenever necessary. RefWork is a user-friendly citation management tool that helps you build an organised collection of materials. Visit our LibGuide on RefWork for more information on how it works!
Boolean operators come from the basis of computational language, helping to specify your search terms by either narrowing or broadening the results. This helps to streamline the search process, leading to more efficient and effective results.
Be sure to always evaluate your findings on whether they are suitable for your research topic. Below are some aspects you should be aware of:
Incorporating related terms into literature searches can help enhance the depth and breadth of findings. You can capture a broader range of information, ensuring that important studies are not overlooked due to terminology differences. For instance, the use of terms in describing the same concept may vary between American and British English. Thus, you can explore diverse perspectives from various disciplines, providing a more dynamic and comprehensive understanding of the topic. Below is an example of how you can list out related terms for certain notions:
Tips: You can make use of tools like Thesaurus.com to search for synonyms or related terms of the word.
The database provides access to more than 150,000 eBooks to cover a variety of subjects, includes Business and economics, Language arts and discipline, Literary criticism, Social science, Technology and Engineering.
LibKey Nomad is a browser’s extension that allows you to access library’s subscribed materials from external websites, like publisher’s webpages, Wikipedia, Google Scholar, etc. This would save you time in coming back and forth between different platforms.
Visit our LibGuide for more information on how it works.
Make use of open access resources that offer unfettered and free access to a wide range of academic materials that are beyond HSUHK Library’s subscriptions. Open access encourages cooperation and knowledge exchange among academics, which makes it simpler to keep up with the most recent discoveries and developments in your field. With the inclusion of library resources, you will benefit from the dynamic exploration of your research area, where unbound insights are generated. Visit our LibGuide on Open Educational Resources to learn more about a particular session about this topic. Below are some suggested resources for you to explore:
CORE
CORE (COnnecting REpositories) aggregates open access research from repositories and journals worldwide, offering access to over 219 million articles. It allows users to search for and download full-text articles directly, making it a valuable resource for comprehensive research.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
This platform indexes and provides access to high-quality, peer-reviewed open access journals across various disciplines. It’s a great starting point for finding credible articles without paywalls.
Google Scholar
While not exclusively open accessed, Google Scholar helps to locate scholarly articles, theses, and books. It often links to free versions of articles available through institutional repositories or open access platforms.
