Page 75 - SREENARAYANAGURU OPEN UNIVERSITY

significant time periods or specific areas of coverage. Also,
exercise caution to ensure that the site you are using has been
Refining search updated and is not abandoned or in disuse. An abandoned site
may not be reliable, and a lack of updates means you may
need to search for the latest information elsewhere.

For additional sources, consider consulting general and
specialised reference works, librarians and experts in the
field who can guide you to relevant materials. Many online
Experts, databases,
librarians bibliographical databases include abstracts of journal articles,
as already mentioned. Individual scholars, universities
or departments, and professional organisations may have
databases that could be useful for your research.

The scope of your search will vary depending on whether
you are conducting a short assignment or a PhD thesis.
Recognising this difference will help you determine how
Research scope much time and effort you should invest in the literature
varies review. For a PhD thesis, consider browsing through subject-
wise digital repositories of PhD theses maintained by UGC,
universities, and research institutions to ensure no thesis has
been awarded on your intended research topic.

To find relevant works, you can search through library
catalogs using keywords, subjects, authors, or a combination
of these. If your institution provides JSTOR access, you can

Finding out works explore academic books and scholarly articles published
in peer-reviewed journals. JSTOR is a popular site with
many institutions subscribing to it. However, for the latest
articles and books, you may need to search reliable publisher
catalogues of new arrivals, Google Books, or conduct searches
with the names of experts or authorities in your field.

Through the snowball method of browsing, where one
work and its bibliography lead you to other related works,
you can save time by efficiently browsing online contents,
indexes and relevant pages for your study. This approach
Snowball method also helps you avoid unnecessary travel between libraries,
especially when they are located at considerable distances.
By conducting this initial browsing, you can exercise caution
and decide whether to continue with a well-researched and
widely explored topic or opt for a less-explored topic with
limited reference materials or databases.

Once you have identified some relevant books, articles, or
author names, you can visit the library and engage in stack
browsing. The stack browsing method involves exploring
the shelves where the identified materials are located,

SGOU - SLM - Foundational Skills for Research and Writing 69