ENG. 101 - Writing & Research - Professor Francine Walker - Fall 2021: Search Strategy

When searching for sources in the databases do not type in whole sentences. Pick out keywords based on your topic.     

For example - Can Intelligence be measured? 

•  "Intelligence" and "measure" 
• For different results - try different words (or synonyms) or terms in your search.  

For Example

• Intellect or IQ 
• Testing or Assessment

Be careful of words with multiple meanings, use alternate or additional words to clarify:

For Example

• Intelligence (ability to learn), Intelligence (surveillance)

More Tips for Successful Searching!

• Use the asterisk * to truncate words and widen your search.   Intellect* will search for Intelligence, and intellectual. 
• Use quotation marks to keep phrases together: e.g. "Intelligence Testing"
• Using And in a search will retrieve articles only if they contain all of your keywords. e.g Learning and Education. 
• Using Or in a search will retrieve articles that contain either of your keywords. e.g. College or School 

You may need to broaden or narrow  your search terms depending on your results :

• Broader Search: "Measurement" instead of "Test"
• Narrower Search: "Theory of Mulitple Intelligence"  instead of "Intelligence"

Try adding a Subtopic to narrow your search. (See image below.)

• Poverty and Social Aspects
• Intelligence and Economic Aspects

*You might need to search multiple times in a single database before deciding it does not have any useful articles.

 A subject heading is a specific word or phrase used to find and organize books and articles by topic. They can be found in catalog records.  Follow the hyperlinks to generate a new search.