Spark 001 (Gingold): Search Strategies

What is Your Topic?

Access this Google Sheet to share your topic.

Select an appropriate search tool. Consider your subject matter, discipline, type of information needed, etc.
Note key concepts (nouns) that relate to your topic.
Construct a search using 2-4 key concepts and Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), truncation, and/or quotation marks.
Incorporate appropriate limiters, such as date, type of article, language, etc. before conducting the search or after viewing the results list.
Skim results; read abstracts to determine an article's relevance.
Leverage subject terms to direct you to other articles with the same tags.
Revise search as needed. Consider using other terminology you discover from titles and descriptors.
Locate the full-text of a relevant article either through a HTML/PDF link, UCeLinks button, or request it from another library (Interlibrary Loan).
Review a relevant source's reference list to locate other articles, books, or authors who have written on the same topic.
If you're not finding information that exactly matches your topic, use pieces of information from sources that are related.