To begin your research, you want to come up with an effective search strategy. This is the starting point of your search process. To do this, you have to consider a few different things.
First, develop your research question: What are you trying to answer?
This will serve as the foundation for your search strategy.
In order to develop keywords, look at the nouns within you research questions - persons, places, and things. You can also think about the 5Ws:
List keywords that relate each concept in your research. Boil your topic down to the most important words. Ignore superfluous words like in, the, of, with, against, affect, impact. Begin with a keyword search!
Boolean Operators are words and symbols, such as AND or NOT, that let you expand or narrow your search parameters when using a database or search engine. Knowing how to use Boolean Operators effectively can save you a lot of time and help you to find useful sources, determine the relevance of your research topic, and create strong research questions.
| AND | Contains all the search terms; Narrows a search | Florida AND tourism |
|---|---|---|
| OR | Contains one option or the other of the search terms; Expands the search | soda OR pop OR coke |
| NOT | Excludes items from the search; Narrows a search | java NOT coffee |
Search strategies can help refine your search. It takes time to consider how you're creating a search, how the database you're using can help create a stronger search, and how to consider different aspects of a search.
Step 1: Identify your key concepts |
Use your research question to find key concepts. | Underline important nouns from your research question (example: people, places, time frames, etc.). |
Step 2: Identify synonymous/similar search terms |
To think of all relevant terms associated with the key concepts you identified. |
Brainstorm alternatives synonyms or similar phrases. These can be used as search terms. |
Step 3: Consider using limiters |
In order to focus on articles that are appropriate for your assignment. | Choose limiters in a library database that are relevant to your research needs. |
Step 4: Combine your search terms |
In order to get more focused results, use Boolean operators. |
Booleans: AND, OR, NOT Wildcard*: Finds variations in spelling, prefixes, and suffixes (riot* will find riot, riots, rioting) "Quotation Marks": enter search terms made up of multiple words in quotation marks to preserve word order ("social media" will look for these two words side by side) |
Step 5: Review your search results |
Look through your results, see if it looks liked your needs are being met. |
Are your results....
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Step 6: Adjust your search strategy |
If you don't find relevant sources, change your search strategy. Searching is an iterative process. |
If you don't have enough results, try...
If you have too many results, try...
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There are many different types of sources. Each is characterized by different elements and audiences.
Popular sources, or non-scholarly sources, inform and entertain their audiences. They allow practitioners to share industry knowledge in a more informal context. They are usually meant to be more easily consumed and accessible sources of information.
Examples: Newspapers, magazines, trade journals, popular books.
Scholarly sources disseminate research and academic discussion within specific disciplines. If an article is peer-reviewed it is scholarly. However, this term only really applies to journal articles. Books can be scholarly too. Scholarly sources are typically intended for academic research. Often they are written by PhD's for other PhD's.
Examples: Journals and books.
Often, non-scholarly sources do not contain the same level of references as scholarly sources. They are written to broadly inform. It doesn't mean they can't be authorities on any given topic, but how you use them in your research needs to be considered. There are pros and cons to each type of source.