GOALS: Introduce a few searching techniques that will help graduate students perform effective and efficient searches related to reading.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Students will be able to . . .

• Break apart a research topic into major concepts in order to formulate a search strategy

• Brainstorm a number of different synonyms to represent various concepts

• Use AND, OR, NOT effectively in their search strategies

• Understand the difference between a subject heading and keyword search

• Use thesauri to determine the correct subject headings for different databases

• Apply these searching techniques to effectively perform searches in databases like ERIC or PsycInfo

FORMING A RESEARCH STATEMENT

Breaking a research topic down

Research example

FIRSTSEARCH DATABASES: (How do these databases work?)

ERIC (EDRS)

PsycINFO

* For hints on effective searching and where to find the articles you have accessed, go to Tips for Using GLOCAT and Periodical Indexes.

 For any unanswered questions, please ask a reference librarian for help!

Questions or comments? E-mail Kim Davies Hoffman
This site last revised: 8/13/07