Welcome to your studies at Charles Sturt. This guide has been created to help you with your research for LIT115. 

Each section introduces the steps you should take when researching for an assessment. You'll find links to videos and resources that will give you the tools to find great information. Use the activities on the Test your knowledge tab to see what you need to revise.

The first thing is to make sure you clearly understand the task and what topic you are seeking information for; this is called topic analysis. Check your assessment task details in your Subject Outline.

With an understanding of your task you then need to plan how you will search for information. This starts with identifying and brainstorming keywords. Brainstorming means you think about words, phrases and concepts that describe or apply to your topic. For example, if you've chosen to investigate the ways in which Facebook impacts the mental health of young people some of your key words might include:

• Facebook
• mental health
• young people

You should also consider whether any of these key words or phrases have synonyms, antonyms or related concepts. Here's an example of brainstorming our example assessment topic.

You can use these words in your search strategies when you are searching in Primo or journal databases.
 

For guidance in topic analysis check out:

Before you start searching, think about what types of information you need and where you can search to find those types of resources.

Primo Search

Primo Search is a good place to start as it allows you to use one search box to bring back results from most of our Library collection including books, eBooks, journal articles, newspaper articles and more. You may get a large number of results and some of these will be from outside your subject/discipline area. Check the content is relevant to your assessment task before you use it.

Library databases

Databases will help you find academic resources and are often subject specific.

Journal databases:

• are the best source of academic or scholarly information for your assessments;
• help you locate peer reviewed articles;
• are subject specific, so that you get more relevant results;
• have many options for refining results.

You can find the Library's journal databases on the A-Z Databases page.

Databases are grouped into subject areas. You can use whichever of the groups seems the most relevant to your chosen research and study area.

When searching in databases, you will get fewer results than Primo, but the results will be more relevant to your subject/discipline. 

Learn how to search efficiently in Primo and Library databases:

When you search using Primo Search or a library database use the keywords and limits you identified above to create your search. Combine the keywords with search operators, rather than searching with a whole sentence or question. Search operators tell Primo or the database how to search with your keywords.

For our example assessment topic potential search strings could include:

• Facebook AND "mental health" AND "young people"
• Facebook AND (teenager OR adolescent OR child) AND (anxiety OR depression)
• "social media" AND impact AND "young people"

Remember: you will need to try a range of searches. Don't stop after just one.

To understand how search operators work check out:

If you're interested in finding out more, check out the following:

The Academic Skills team can help you to build your writing, referencing and reading skills to be successful at Charles Sturt University.

Explore resources from the Academic Skills team in the Learning Skills section of the Student Portal.

Here are some pages to get you started:

Generative AI tools can be helpful study companions — they can support your thinking, help you explore new ideas, and guide you toward useful resources.

You might use Gen AI to:

• Generate topic ideas or refine research questions
• Clarify tricky terms or complex concepts
• Suggest useful sources or recommend databases
• Improve your keywords or search strategies

Important: Always check your subject outline to see if using AI tools is permitted. Using AI without permission could breach academic integrity rules.

Think of AI as a starting point — a way to support your research, not replace your critical thinking or use of credible academic sources.

See more on AI:

Our Digital Skills module series is designed to empower you with the tools and knowledge needed to thrive in the digital landscape, at university and beyond.

Check out the Digital skills module series to discover tips on content creation, security and safety in the digital world, AI, and more.