Check out this course guide! Step-by-Step Guide & Research Rescue: Basic Research Strategy. This guide will help you understand how to efficiently and effective do basic research.
1. Identify key terms for your topic
2. Select appropriate search fields for your terms
3. Use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) to broaden or narrow your search
i. AND is used to NARROW your search, combining two or more search topics
ii. OR is used to BROADEN your search results
iii. NOT is to ELIMINATE unwanted search results
4. To narrow your results further, explore the different databases and to find where you can adjust the date, request only peer-review articles, etc.
5. To include all variations of a word in your search, truncate terms by placing an asterisk (*) after the common root
i. For example, famil* would search for family and families.
For more information on Boolean Operators, check out this tutorial!