Research Process: Tips for Searching

To choose effective search terms, start with your research question or thesis. Identify the three most important words in your question or statement and use them to search the databases. We recommend conducting a search with one idea per search box.  You will need to conduct a separate search for each idea in your paper. Note that natural language searches, such as we are accustomed to doing in Google, will not return good results in a library database. 

Keywords

Sometimes the words we use to describe a concept is different from the words used in the literature. If you are not finding information on your topic, try using synonyms to replace your original words.  It is helpful to read abstracts of articles in your search results and adjust your language in subsequent searches. TIP: Ask yourself "What other words could be used to describe this concept?"

Expand and Refine: If you are researching on a education related topic, take a moment to write down as many synonyms as you can think of to describe the topic. 

• Use a reference resources, such as an encyclopedia, dictionary, or thesaurus to find synonyms and related terms. s.
• Use acronyms and full names (for example: ASD and Autism Spectrum Disorder)
• Don’t forget to search for people, events, organizations, and publications related to your topic.

Subject Terms 

Researchers use a controlled vocabulary called subject terms to identify related concepts. Subject terms work like hashtags and are assigned to articles by the database indexers. The best way to discover subject terms is to click on the title of a relevant article and look at the listed terms. Another way is to use the subject terms limiter on the left-hand side of the results screen in a database. 

Search for complete phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks “ “. Words enclosed in double quotes will appear together in all results exactly as typed, for example “behavioral therapy.” This is an excellent way to search for items that contain specific terminology. 

Another helpful researching tip is to use boolean operators when searching in a library database or Google Scholar. Learn more in the video below.

Truncation is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings. To use this tool, you will use the root of a word followed by the * symbol.  For example, educat* will match all words that begin with educat, including education, educated, and educate. 

Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols include: *,!,?, or #