Built Environment: Postgraduate Support: 2. Advanced Search Strategies 🔍💻

To conduct high-quality research in Architecture, Urban Planning, and Construction Economics & Management, it's crucial to develop a structured search strategy that retrieves relevant, high-impact information.

A well-defined search strategy ensures comprehensive literature coverage and reproducibility, especially when conducting a systematic review or evidence synthesis.

Different databases use different terminologies, so it's essential to include synonyms, related terms, and abbreviations for each concept.

Using alternative terms increases your chances of retrieving comprehensive results.

Most databases allow you to refine your search. Apply these filters to retrieve relevant, recent, and high-quality research:

✅ Publication Date – Limit to the last 5-10 years for recent developments.
✅ Document Type – Choose peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, or reports.
✅ Language – Select English or other relevant languages.
✅ Subject Area – Architecture, Engineering, Urban Studies, Sustainability.

Each database covers different aspects of research. Try searching in:

📖 Architecture & Urban Planning:

• Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
• JSTOR
• ArchUP
• Google Scholar

🏗️ Construction Economics & Management:

• Scopus
• ScienceDirect

💡 Multidisciplinary:

• EBSCOhost
• Web of Science
• ProQuest 
• IEEE Xplore

For one-on-one research consultations, database tutorials, or literature review support, reach out to your Built Environment Research Librarian.

By using these advanced search strategies, you'll efficiently find high-quality research to support your postgraduate studies and research projects. Happy searching! 🎓🔍📚

Before diving into databases, take time to clearly define your research question or topic. Think about the main concepts in your research. Identifying these keywords will help you formulate search queries.

Example:

Topic: "The impact of green building materials on sustainable urban development"

Your key concepts are:
✅ Green Building Materials
✅ Sustainability
✅ Urban Development

To combine the keywords, use Boolean Operators:

• AND – Narrows the search by combining concepts.
• OR – Broadens the search by including synonyms.
• NOT – Excludes irrelevant terms.

Example Search String:

("Green building materials" OR "eco-friendly materials" OR "sustainable materials")  AND ("sustainability" OR "environmental impact" OR "energy efficiency")  AND ("urban development" OR "city planning" OR "urbanization" OR "smart cities")

🔹 Tip: Use parentheses () to group synonyms together for better search results.
 

Use truncation and wildcards to capture word variations:

• Truncation (*): Searches for all word endings.
  • Example: construct* → construction, constructing, constructed
• Wildcards (?): Replaces a single character for different spellings.
  • Example: urbani?ation → urbanization, urbanisation

• If you get too few results, broaden your search by adding more synonyms.
• If you get too many irrelevant results, narrow it down with specific filters.
• Look at reference lists of key papers to find additional sources (citation chaining).

🔹 Save search results in a reference manager like Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote.
🔹 Export citations in RIS or BibTeX format for easy referencing.
🔹 Set up alerts in databases like Web of Science or Scopus to stay updated on new research.

If the material you need isn’t available in any of the Wits Libraries, you can borrow it from other libraries. Check out the Interlibrary Loans service for more info. 🌐