Struggling to find academic material for your assignment, research proposal, or thesis?The Library can help with a literature search—a systematic and comprehensive search for published academic resources on your topic.
How to request a literature search:
Complete our online form or use the Unisa Student App (available on the Android Play Store and iStore). In the app, go to Library and select Literature Search Form.
In accordance with the Unisa Policy for Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism, you are personally accountable for respecting copyright and licensing requirements. Violations of any of these restrictions could result not only in the loss of your own access to the information resources, but in the loss of access for the entire Unisa community. Disciplinary action may also be taken in terms of any applicable policy or disciplinary code, for example, the Unisa Student Disciplinary Code.
Be conscientious about copyright.
The e-Publication finder can be used when you know the name of a publication. Enter the name of the journal, e-book etc in the Title begins with search box and then click on Search.
The results will bring out the journal and in which databases it is held. This allows you to search the journal for more articles by using the relevant database. Otherwise just insert the the title of the article within the search inside this journal search box to go directly to the article.
A keyword matrix is a simple tool that helps you plan and organize the keywords you’ll use when searching for information on a topic. It’s especially useful for building effective Boolean search strings by grouping synonyms and related terms in a clear, structured way.
Write down your research question or topic in a sentence. Example: What are the effects of social media on mental health in teenagers?
Underline or highlight the main keywords in your topic. Keywords: social media, mental health, teenagers
Draw a table with one row and one column per keyword. Write each keyword in its own cell (same row, separate columns).
| A1 | A2 | A3 |
| social media | mental health | teenagers |
In each cell, add any synonyms, related terms, or alternate spellings for that keyword. Write all of these inside the same cell. These help you find more results.
| A1 | A2 | A3 | |
| social media OR Instagram OR TikTok
|
mental health OR wellbeing OR depression |
|
If a term has broader ideas or related areas, add them in a new cell in the same row.
Inside each cell, connect words with OR and put them in brackets ( ).
Use your final search string in a library database, Google Scholar, or journal website.
Final search string: (social media OR Instagram OR TikTok) AND (mental health OR wellbeing OR depression) AND (teenagers OR adolescents OR youth)
Tips:
Use quotation marks for exact phrases: ''mental health''
