Finding information

For your assessments, you will often need to find different kinds of information. Where you search depends on the type of information you are looking for.

In brief, here is a quick guide to where you can search:

  • Library catalogue: A good place to start. You can search by title or keywords to find academic sources
  • Databases: These allow you to do more detailed searches using advanced search tools
  • Google: Useful for finding specific types of information from reliable websites.

Library catalogue

The Library catalogue is a search tool that helps you find resources in the Library’s collection. It includes:

  • Print materials – Books and other items available in the Library
  • Online content – Links to digital resources stored in the Library’s databases.

You can do a specific search (for example, the title of your textbook), or a broader topic search using keywords. It works like a regular search engine but focuses on academic and library resources.

Watch this short video about searching in the Library catalogue.



Library databases

Library databases are online collections of academic resources. You can search for and access journal articles, ebooks, newspaper articles, theses, videos, and more. These databases have powerful search functions that help you create a more focused and effective search.

Watch this short video to learn more about how to search in a database. It explains how to use techniques like alternative keywords, AND/OR, truncation, and phrase searching to improve your results.



Google

Using Google or another search engine can be a helpful part of your research. You can use it to:

  • Find background information about your topic
  • Discover useful keywords for your search
  • Locate materials that may not be in academic databases, such as reports or publicly available documents

It is important to evaluate any information you find. Check for bias, accuracy, and credibility before using it in your assessment.

Tips for effective Google searching

You can use AND and OR, phrase searching, and truncation in Google, just like in library databases. Here are some extra tips to improve your search:



Searching with Google can often give you too many results and not all will be useful. To focus your search, you can use the site: command to search only certain types of websites.

For example, if you want government information about measles in Australia, searching for prevalence measles Australia will give you results from newspapers, blogs, and organisations. However, searching for prevalence measles site:gov.au will only show results from Australian government websites.

Website types

  • .edu – Educational institutions
  • .gov – Government departments or agencies
  • .org, .com, .co – Often used for marketing or news sites. These can be useful, but they do not always meet academic standards.
  • Country codes – Help you find websites from a specific country (for example, .au for Australia)

Some online information can change quickly. Reports and official documents are more stable and are often shared as PDFs. To find these, use the filetype: command.

For example: If you search for jobs of the future, you may get results from websites trying to sell something. But if you search for jobs of the future filetype:pdf, you will find reports and documents that are more likely to be credible.