Further Reading

Further reading links to supplement your studies.

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Few books focus only on searching the literature, though Hart (2001) is an exception; most are guides to study skills or how to research, which put the literature search process in a broader context.

  • Bell (2014) presents a chapter on finding and searching for literature. This includes a useful introduction to searches using the internet and ways to help limit or broaden your criteria. It is part of a guide to doing research.
    Bell, J. (2014) ‘Literature searching’, in Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education and Social Science (6th edn). Buckingham: Open University Press, pp. 87    ‒103.
     
  • Blaxter et al. (2010) provide an excellent user-friendly guide on how to research; they include chapters on reading for research and writing up.
    Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. and Tight, M. (2010) How to Research (4th edn). Buckingham: Open University Press.
  • Cornell University (2014) provides a useful guide to searching and evaluating information sources critically.
    Cornell University Library (2015) Library Research at Cornell: The Seven Steps. http://guides.library.cornell.edu/sevensteps
  • Dolowitz et al. (2008) present a thorough guide to searching for information on the internet including advice on how to approach searching and different techniques to use within the search strategy.
    Dolowitz, D., Buckler, S. and Sweeney, F. (2008) Researching Online. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Flowerdew and Martin (2005) provide a guide for human geographers doing research projects; they include a chapter by Flowerdew on finding previous work and a chapter by Clark illustrating the benefits and issues of using secondary data sources which also provides further information on how to use search engines to their best advantage.
    Flowerdew, R. and Martin, D. (eds) (2005) Methods in Human Geography: A Guide for Students Doing Research Projects (2nd edn). Harlow: Longman, pp. 48–56.
     
  • Hart (2001) provides a comprehensive guide for doing a literature search in the social sciences.
    Hart, C. (2001) Doing a Literature Search: A Comprehensive Guide for the Social Sciences. London: Sage.
     
  • Ridley (2008) presents a step-by-step guide to writing a literature review. This book includes a chapter on doing a literature search and a chapter focusing on information management.
    Ridley, D. (2008) The Literature Review: Step-by-Step Guide for Students. London: Sage.

Online resources