Evaluate your search results critically

1. Initial evaluation

After you have found your first search results, take time to evaluate them. Information searching is an iterative process: you search, evaluate, adjust your strategy, and search again.

Start by asking whether your current search strategy is working. Are the results relevant to your topic? Are they too broad, too narrow, outdated, or not clearly connected to your research question?

If you are finding relevant documents, continue with the same strategy. If not, revise your search terms and try again.

2. Relevance of results

Relevance is one of the main criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of an information search. A document is relevant if it answers your research question or matches your information need.

You can usually assess relevance by looking at the title, keywords, and abstract. If there is no abstract, it may be difficult to decide whether the document is useful. In some cases, you can only judge relevance after reading the full text.

It is normal that your search results include some irrelevant materials. The aim is not to find only perfect results immediately, but to recognise which results are useful and adjust your search when necessary.

3. Adjusting your search strategy

When using an information source, test different search profiles. The same topic may be described with different terminology in different sources, such as the online catalogue ESTER, research databases, or the library search portal Primo.

For example, one database may use a broad term, while another may use a more specific subject heading or technical term. You may need to change your keywords, add synonyms, use subject terms, or create a new search profile.

Once you identify the database or search tool that gives you the best results for your topic, it is usually useful to continue with a more thorough search in that source.

4. Too many results

If your search gives you too many results, make the search more specific. Instead of using a simple search, try Advanced Search, which allows you to limit and refine your results more precisely.

You can limit your results to:

• peer-reviewed articles;
• full-text documents;
• a specific publication period;
• a certain document type;
• selected search fields (such as title, abstract, keywords, author, or publication title).

Searching in selected fields can make your results more relevant. For example, if your search term appears in the title, keywords, or abstract, the document is more likely to be closely related to your topic.

You can also make your search more focused by using the following techniques:

• Use phrase searching. Put words that must appear together in quotation marks, for example, "academic libraries".
• Use the AND operator to build a more specific search query, for example, "academic libraries" AND "artificial intelligence" AND ethics.
• Use narrower subject-specific terms instead of broad general terms.
• Using truncation, avoid cutting the word too short. A longer word stem gives more precise results. For example, computer* is more specific than comput*.
• Use a proximity operator, such as NEAR, when you want two words to appear close to each other but not necessarily in a fixed order. 

• Web of Science uses NEAR/n
• Scopus uses W/n
• EBSCOhost uses Nn
• IEEE Xplore uses NEAR/n

5. Too few results

If your search gives you too few results, broaden your search strategy.

Try the following:

• Use simple search instead of advanced search.
• Check the spelling of your search terms. Remember that British and American spelling may differ, for example, organisation and organization.
• Use synonyms and connect them with the OR operator, for example, university students OR higher education students.
• Use more general search terms.
• Review your keywords and try to find additional search terms from the database thesaurus or subject heading list.
• Use the database’s own tools for expanding the search, such as Expand my results, Related documents, or Find similar results.

You can also use the snowballing method. This means using one relevant book or article as a starting point for finding more sources. For example:

• Look at the reference list at the end of a relevant book or article. Which authors, works, or concepts appear repeatedly?
• Use citation databases, such as Web of Science or Scopus, to find newer articles that have cited a relevant article.
• Look at the keywords or subject terms used to describe a relevant article or book, and use those terms in your own search.

Wildcard and truncation symbols can also help you broaden your search. Different databases may use them differently, so always check the search help of the database you are using.

Common examples include:

• * is often used for truncation and replaces word endings. For example, computer* finds computer, computers, computerized, computerization, and other related forms.
• # can replace one or no letters. For example, colo#r finds both color and colour.
• ? usually replaces one letter. For example, globali?ation finds both globalisation and globalization.

6. Key evaluation questions

When evaluating your search results, consider the following questions:

• Is the information relevant to your topic?
• Are the results objective and verifiable?
• Does the publication date meet the requirements of your assignment or research task?
• Do you have enough material?
• Are the sources academically appropriate?

The required time frame depends on your topic. In fast-developing fields, such as artificial intelligence, engineering, medicine, or information technology, recent sources may be especially important. In historical or theoretical research, older sources may still be highly relevant.

Before you decide to use a source, think about whether the information is accurate, objective, and trustworthy. This video explains why source credibility matters and how misinformation can affect your research.

7. Source quality

After you have identified potentially relevant results, evaluate the quality of the sources. This is especially important when the material has been found on the open internet.

Pay attention to the following criteria:

• Who is the author? Check whether the author is trustworthy. What are their qualifications, academic background, institutional affiliation, or professional experience?
• Is the information objective? A reliable academic source usually refers to previous research and acknowledges other authors’ work.
• Is the information accurate? Check important facts against official publications, institutional websites, statistics, standards, or other reliable sources.
• Who is the publisher? Publications from internationally recognized academic publishers, university presses, research institutions, and professional organizations are generally more reliable.
• Where was the article published? Articles published in scholarly journals are usually more suitable for academic work than popular articles, blog posts, or anonymous web content.
• Does the article include an abstract and a reference list? These are important signs of academic writing and help you understand the scope and foundation of the work.
• What kind of language is used? Academic sources usually use precise terminology and field-specific concepts. Be cautious if the language is overly emotional, promotional, vague, or unsupported by evidence.

8. Reliable academic sources

The reliability of information is especially important in academic work. Sources and facts found online, particularly on social media, may not be accurate. It can also be difficult to understand who created the information, how the conclusions were reached, and whether the content has been checked.

Library databases give access to academic publications such as scholarly articles, conference papers, book chapters, standards, and other research-based materials. In many cases, the quality of these materials has been checked through editorial processes, peer review, or publisher selection.

This does not mean that every source in a database is automatically perfect, or that every internet source is unreliable. However, library databases are a stronger starting point for academic research because they are designed to provide access to credible, traceable, and research-based information.

Publications from universities, educational and research institutions, international organisations, and government agencies are generally considered reliable, both online and in print. Still, each source should be evaluated critically before you use it in your work.