Information retrieval begins with defining the topic. You can use tools such as mind maps to support this stage. When searching, it is essential to have an idea of both the subject and the type of information needed. An important phase in the information retrieval process is also familiarizing yourself with the terminology and concepts of your research area. Consider as well what type of information you need—for example, articles, statistics, or official sources. Your information needs determine which sources are the most useful for your search.
The initial search refers to familiarizing yourself with a topic that is new to you, so that you understand what your subject is about. At the same time, you will find useful keywords for database searches—be sure to save these keywords so you remember to use them in databases later. Newspapers, magazines, television, internet, discussion groups, encyclopedias, Google, Wikipedia etc. can be used here as information sources.
It is a good idea to run these preliminary information searches in several databases. Multidisciplinary reference databases are often helpful when starting your search. In some search services, such as Ebsco and ProQuest, you can search multiple databases simultaneously. Finding the databases best suitable for your information needs might require trying out and testing a few different databases. By looking at the search results you can see from which points of view the topic has been researched.
In order to carry out a search, it is important to analyze your topic and divide it into concepts. You can use a mind map or a concept map to help you do this. With their help you can clarify to yourself the overall view of the topic and potentially find search terms for future searches.
You can collect concepts, ideas or points of view related to you topic in mind maps or concept maps. A concept map also depicts the relationships between keywords and concepts: what are their causal connections and what is their hierarchy.
There are several free and paid programs available for creating mind and concept maps, e.g. Coggle, Popplet and Mindmeister.
Mind map on the environmental impacts of plastic waste. Created with Canva on 26.8.2025.
With each search, you should at least save the used search words and phrases, databases and filters as well as the number of results and the date of retrieval. Some databases save your search history directly, or you can keep a record of your searches yourself. Precise documentation is especially important when performing a systematic information search.
With the help of your search history you can easily and quickly manage, compare and modify previous searches. It lists all searches made in the session, therefore allowing the user to easily go back to the results of previous searches or modify them. In some databases only the searches made in the current session are saved, and in some it is possible to save your search history for later use or for repeating the search. Using your search history in future sessions always requires registration to the service.
After a successful search, references that are estimated to be relevant can be saved into a reference management software, where they can be easily found for later use.
