Whether you are searching for books in the Five College Library Catalog, or searching for scholarly articles in a library database, it pays to be organized as you start your search. Break down searching into a three step process.
STEP 1
Write down as much information about your topic as possible. (You can use encyclopedias and other reference books to help gather background information). Answer the following questions:
- What is your topic?
- What questions do you have?
- What do you know? What don't you know?
Then, try to summarize what you are looking for in one or two sentences.
EXAMPLE: I would like to learn about the lead in drinking water and its toxic effects including the Flint Michigan water crisis.
STEP 2
Using the information in Step 1, list the main concepts of your topic.
EXAMPLE: lead, drinking water, toxicity, Flint Michigan
STEP 3
Now create a list of synonyms of your key concepts. Think broadly, think narrowly! This step is helping you expand your search by expressing your query in a variety of ways. If you get too many results, then you can work on focussing your search.
lead
|
water
drinking water
|
toxic*
poison
health
pollution
child*
effects
Flint Michigan
*=Wildcard; can be used to search for variations
Ex. pollut*
|
You will use the word lists you developed in Step 3 to create search strategies. Use "OR" between synonyms and "AND" between concepts. For instance:
(lead) AND (water OR drinking water) AND (health) AND (Flint Michigan)