Research Tips & Techniques   Tags: research  

1. Define your research need
2. Select your search terms
3. Start your search
4. Record your findings
5. Evaluate what you find
6. Get help!

• What do you need or want to know?
  
  • "Is there a connection between global warming and extreme weather?"
    
• How much information do you need or want?
  
  • "Information for a 5-8 page research paper"
• Use general library resources, such as encyclopedia articles or books to better understand your topic before you begin your research.

• Keywords and Search Phrases

Use the most descriptive words and phrases from your topic including synonyms and alternate terms, such as acronyms and scientific terms. 

Is there a connection between global warming and extreme weather?

Search phrases:

global warming    climate change    climatic changes     greenhouse effect    extreme weather

Keywords:

floods    flooding    hurricanes     drought     tornadoes     connection      relationship

• Use Controlled Vocabulary

Many databases and indexes assign controlled words, subject headings or descriptors to database records. This is done to improve access to information. For example, in an education database the phrase "elementary education" would be used as a subject heading/descriptor for all articles about kindergarten through grade six. Using this descriptor will retrieve references to articles on the topic, even if the phrase "elementary education" never appeared in the title or abstract of the articles.

Different databases may use different controlled vocabulary terms. For example, the following terms are used by these catalogs and databases:

ONLINE CATALOGS	ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER	PSYCINFO
Library of Congress Subject Headings	Subject terms	Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
AIDS (Disease)	AIDS (Disease)	Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Indians of North America	Indians of North America	American Indians

 

Ask the library reference staff for help in finding thesauri.

• Use advanced search techniques 
  
  Truncation is used to expand results by instructing the computer to look for the root of the word and all alternate word endings.

flood*   searches for flood, flooded,  floods,  flooding

Truncation symbols may differ depending on the database or engine you are using. Common truncation symbols are:  

 * (an asterisk)

? (a question mark)

# (the pound sign)

Use Boolean operators to produce more relevant search results by combining search terms.

          The principal Boolean operators are: AND

    OR 

    NOT

• Use AND to combine different concepts together. This will reduce search results.

"global warming" AND "extreme weather"

          In search engines use the + symbol (+"global warming" +"extreme weather")

• Use OR to gather references that contain similar terms or synonyms. This will increase search results. Always put parentheses around terms you connect with OR.

("extreme weather" OR flood* OR tornado* OR drought)

• Use NOT to exclude terms. Use this sparingly as it may remove useful search results.

"extreme weather" NOT drought

          In search engines use the - symbol ("extreme weather"-drought)

Hint:  Some databases, especially online library catalogs, use AND automatically. For example, if you enter global warming, it will search for the words global AND warming, but not necessarily for the words to be next to each other.

Phrase  Searching
Some databases and search engines will allow you to search for an exact phrase. Phrase searching will reduce the number of search results. Use quotation marks to find exact phrases.

Search for a phrase: "greenhouse effect" (use quotations)

Use the online help for each database or search engine for phrase searching.  See Power Searching for Anyone for more details on effective use of search engines.

Books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and media available in your library and in other Utah libraries

• Stewart Library Catalog
• Other Utah library catalogs 

Articles from scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers    

• Article databases

For more help

• Online library guides and tutorials

• Take careful notes, or print full references for bibliographies
• Carefully organize your bookmarks within meaningful headings
• Citing Print and Electronic Sources

• Is the resource useful, well written, up to date and/or at an appropriate level for your need?
• Is the source credible, authoritative, unbiased, factual?
  
• Remember the Internet is a self publishing medium and contains a huge range of data, including useless, false, and offensive materials

For more help, see our guide on critical evaluation.

• Ask for help from your instructor
• Use "HELP" screens and other online help when available
• Ask for assistance from the library reference staff as needed
• Don't waste time or get too frustrated before asking for help