Use the following Research Planning Guide to help you complete your research.
You should research and ask a question on a topic that you are genuinely interested in. You will be spending a lot of time with this one particular topic and want to stay as engaged as possible.
Your research question should follow these principles:
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CLEAR - it should provide enough specifics that the audience can easily understand its purpose without needing additional explanation
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FOCUSED - it is narrow enough that it can be answered thoroughly in the space the assignment allows.
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CONCISE - it is expressed in the fewest possible words
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COMPLEX - it is not answerable with a simple "yes" or "no", but rather requires synthesis and analysis of ideas and sources prior to the composition of an answer
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ARGUABLE - its potential answers are open to debate rather than accepted fact
Selecting keywords is one of the most important parts of the research process. Databases don't think like Google - they don't understand sentences or questions - they understand words. By picking out the keywords in your research question you are telling the database what you need to be searched.
When selecting keywords - determine what YOU think are the most important words in your research questions. What should the database care about?
► The easiest way to determine keywords is to select the most important nouns.
After selecting your keywords, it is important to think of synonyms or alternative ways to say your keywords. Not all authors talk about or spell concepts the same way. It's important to think through all the different ways an author or database might say a keyword to find all the relevant sources.
Think through the following ideas to help you find additional related terms:
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American vs British spelling
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Different word endings like singular vs plural
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Different words for the same concept (eg teens, adolescents, youths)
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Include both the acronym and the full term
EXAMPLE:
Concept
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Teenager
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Heart Attack
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Advertisements
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Related Terms
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Adolescent
Young Adult
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Myocardial Infarction
Cardiovascular Stroke
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marketing
commercials
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Create your search by combining your keywords using Boolean Operators - AND, OR, NOT
AND is used to narrow your search. Results will contain both sets of keywords.
OR is used to expand your search. Results will return either keyword.
NOT will limit your search. Results will exclude a keyword.
Use parenthesis to combine all your search terms with Boolean to create search strings.. These are what the database will use to search.
OR should go between synonyms
AND should combine groups of synonyms.
(teenagers OR adolescents) AND (advertisements OR commercials)
**Princess George Community College, 2015
Now that you have a search string you can start searching for resources in databases. Rowland Medical Library has access to over 70+ academic databases for you to search.
Below are some tools to help make your search a little easier.
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Use truncation (*) or wild cards (?) to retrieve alternatives: eg child* (for child/children/child's etc) OR wom?m (women or woman) OR p#ediatrics (British vs American spelling)
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For phrase searching use quote marks, eg "chest pain" or "shortness of breath"
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Use single quote marks for 'phrase searching' in EMBASE
► Remember - Not all databases use the same truncation or phrase searching keys. Be sure to check the 'help' section of the database to determine the right method to use.
**Truncation* or Wildcard? infographic. Monash University
The final step in the searching process is to evaluate your results and evaluate the sources you select.
Evaluating Results
You want to ensure that your search is valid.
Are you getting back the right types of results? Are your keywords showing up in the title or abstract? If not, then you might need to amend your search string. Think about taking out a word that isn't bringing back the right results.
You might have too many or too few limiters on your search.
Make sure not to use too many limiters as this might make your search to narrow. Not enough limiters and your results might not be relevant.
► Remember, not all databases think alike. You might have to change out keywords depending on the database you are using.
