This Slideshow is part of a Decision-based Learning module on Information Literacy skills

1. INFORMATION NEEDS:
TYPES OF DATABASE SEARCHES

2. Definitions:
• Searching for works by a specific author:
• This search looks for all works by an author
• Procedurally, the search engine looks for all records that contain the specified author in
their author fields
• An author search is narrower than other types of searches
• Some authors share the same name so disambiguation is important
• The format of an author’s name is often important, e.g., Nelson, G. not
George Nelson
• Example: Find articles written by the following author
Kourra, Nadia (University of Warwick, UK)

3. Definitions:
• Searching for sources about a known topic:
• Topic is known
• Other sources about the topic may or may not have been found previously
• The search seeks to use what is known about the topic to find as of yet
unknown publications on that topic
• Example: Find articles about Coordinated Control of UAVs

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