There are 4 very important search strategies to employ when searching databases:
Turn your research question into a search strategy:
Example: How does Shakespeare explore themes of rebellion in his tragedies?
1. Find only the key concepts within your research question.
How does Shakespeare explore rebellious themes in his tragedies?
2. Think of synonyms, narrower, and broader terms for each concept. You may not be able to find one of each for all your key concepts.
| Key Concept | Synonyms, Narrower Terms, & Broader Terms |
|---|---|
| Shakespeare | The Bard, The Bard of Avon |
| Rebellious themes | Uprising themes, revolution themes, civil disobedience themes |
| Tragedies | Drama, play |
3. Broaden your search to related concepts.
| Key Concept | Related Concept |
|---|---|
|
Shakespeare |
Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson |
| Rebellion Themes | Unrest, Oppression |
| Tragedies | Comedies |
Truncation allows you to search for multiple forms of a word. Examples:
violen* = violent, violence
rebel* = rebels, rebellion, rebellious
Beware of truncating too short and getting irrelevant things. For example act* would include too many words and all would not be related to your topic.
Operators create relationships between your search terms. You can use operators (AND, OR, & NOT) to expand or narrow your search.
Combine SYNONYMS with the OR operator to expand your search.
Combine CONCEPTS with the AND operator to narrow your search.
Use NOT to exclude a term that is showing up in your results but is not relevant to your search.
Note: For some databases if you combine concepts in one search box it will assume you want the AND operator between them.
Search for phrases using quotation marks so that the database searches for that exact phrase in that exact order.
"rebellious themes"
"civil disobedience"
"Romeo and Juliet"
