This quick, 3-minute video explains how to develop keywords. Thinking strategically about your research question and the terms can help you navigate the vast amount of resources more quickly.
For example, let's look at the following research question:
Are there genetic causes linked to autism in children?
What are the 2-3 main ideas or concepts of this research question?
Take the four main ideas from above and brainstorm synonyms for those terms.
Need some help? Consider using the Thesaurus feature in PsycINFO (Advanced Search-->Thesaurus)
The Thesaurus function provides historical terms or related terms. For example, in psychology, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder used to be referred to as 'shell shock.' The Thesaurus provides common language to tag or index articles so you don't have to try and guess every possible term. However, the Thesaurus doesn't catch everything, that's why it's helpful to think about related terms.
I used the Thesaurus and brainstormed possible synonyms for the example could include:
Start building your search by using Boolean operators. Terms like AN, NOT, and OR can help organize your search and the results you're hoping to get. Using OR can help you find the synonyms of words because it looks for either term. For example, it can be helpful to put OR statements in between your synonym words:
Genetics OR Genetic Disorders OR Genetic Linkage OR Heritability
Using AND can help bind all of your main ideas together. You would use AND because it's important that both concepts are found. For example, we would put an AND between autism AND children because the demographic matters.
NOT can be used when you notice article results that do not match your own research question. For example, if you only care about the role of genetics in autistic children in the United States and NOT Canada, you could build that in your search.
Tips:
You wouldn't want to rush into the big game without a plan, or hike into the woods without a compass and map, right?
It's easy to get lost in the amount of information that can be found in databases. You may pick out the perfect keywords only to find little to no results related to your topic. Does that mean the information you need isn't out there? Not necessarily!
Think about your research question, the scope of your investigation, and the keywords you may have begun generating for your topic.
In order to find and use information, you may need to take a step back and think about what you've already identified.
You can also modify your results using various search strategies. The default of search engines and most databases is to separate keywords and search for them separately.
In a library database, you can control your results by connecting keywords with AND, OR, NOT, and by using other search strategies like putting "quotation marks" around phrases to keep them together in the search.
Use AND to narrow your results. Your results must include each term.
Use OR to broaden your results. Your results could include any one of the terms.
Use NOT to exclude terms from your results.
Quotation marks narrow your results by keeping words in a phrase together.
We can often do research without really thinking about it. But how do we know if our research strategy is the best or most efficient? What if we can't remember what's worked well or what hasn't in the past?
A research log is a document that helps you keep track of and think about how you search for sources. A research log can be as informal as jotting down keywords and notes informally, or it can be more structured like writing annotations or summaries of sources and how they might fit into your project.
Materials from the Information Literacy Toolkit by Meg Meiman, which adapted materials from Maria Accardi & Tessa Withorn's Canvas module Access & Use.
Once you run your search, you will see a list of results. Below are some tips to help filter out information you may not need.
Tips:
Other filters include: subject and classification (could be useful for identifying additional concepts), as well as population, age group, methodology, and language. A sample of methodology is attached below; this can be helpful if you are looking specifically for longitudinal studies, empirical, etc.
Did you find the perfect resource? One way to identify additional, related research is by looking at the reference list at the end of a journal article or book. Scholars oftentimes work within the same research realm and publish in the same area. Both PsycINFO and Google Scholar have cited by and reference lists. Click the references button to see a list of works cited within the paper or book.
Similar to seeing references, you can also see who has recently cited the publication you initially found. The cited by function can be helpful for finding recent research or information. In the image above, you will see the "Cited by" link with a (4). Even though this article was published in 2018, four other publications have cited it in their references. Click on the link to see what those resources are and if they align with your own topic. Again, both PsycINFO and Google Scholar offer a cited by function.
Additionally, the database Scopus can also be used to trace literature both backwards and forwards.