Boxer Library
The very first step in your research process should be identifying what it is you want to find. May students become frustrated with the process of searching because they do not stop and think what they need to search for.
Identifying a topic can be very simple, and to begin this process do these two things.
| Direction | Example |
|
Ask yourself: What question do I want to answer by searching for information? |
Does aspirin alleviate joint pain due to osteoarthritis? |
| Extract Terms from the question and write them down. | Aspirin, Joint pain, osteoarthritis |
Take your question and extract a few key terms. Now you should be able to find anything you want right??? Not necessarily because one of the amazing things about any language is that there can be many terms for the same concept.
The image belows show the many terms that could be related to the term aspirin:
Also masticiation can mean chewing, neoplasms can mean tumors and
As you have your question in front of you write down a few words for each concept so if you get stuck later you can simply go to another word these do not have to be the exact same meaning they can be related words as well.
Example:
| Original Word | New Words |
| Aspirin |
|
| Joint Pain |
|
| Osteoarthritis |
|
How databases such as Google, PubMed, LibrarySearch, etc, work is that they retrieve information based on the terms you enter and the criteria you set. Unless you have a really unusual word you will need to use more than one term per search.
Creating a search formula is a way to communicate to the database how you want the words related to one another. Much like telling a waiter I want a burger and fries, a cheeseburger Not with pickles or I want a Coke or Pepsi....
To create a search formula do the following:
Term 1 + Connector + Term 2
The part of the search strategy that tells the database how to relate the terms to one another are the words, AND, OR , NOT. Below is a chart of when to use each of these in your searches.
As you walk through the mall you see people agonizing about what type of digital camera or new computer they want to buy. They have a mile long list of requirements for the devices and you often see the salespeople shaking their heads because what they want is very hard to find. If you ask these same people what requirements do you have for information their answer usually is whatever comes up first in Google.
Everyone has requirements for their information but do not know them until they are frustrated for their process.
Before you start your search answer these questions:
Knowing this information before you start searching can help you evaluate your results later.