Skip to Main Content

FAML 300 Marital Dynamics

Search Effectively

Unlike Google, databases can't understand an entire sentence. So you'll need to break your topic down into the most important ideas - the KEYWORDS.

Example Topic: How does sleep affect college students' mental health?

The specifics of your topic will matter when selecting sources, but for searching you only need the most essential components.

Keywords: sleep, college students, mental health

Search Query:

"college students" AND ''mental health" AND sleep

Most words have synonyms that mean the same, or very similar, things. For each keyword in your topic, try to come up with at least one synonym. Not all keywords will have synonyms, but many do!

Example:

Keyword: Mental Health

Keyword:Synonym: emotional health, mental stability

 

Keep an Eye Out

Sometimes scholars use terms that you might not be familiar with, or which might mean something very specific within the discipline. While searching, look for unfamiliar terms or words that show up a lot. Try searching for those and see if you find more relevant sources.

Most library databases have search tools built in. Try some of these:

  • Subject: Think of subjects as official hashtags. Use them to find sources about that subject.
  • Date Range: Limit your search to sources published between specific years.
  • Peer Reviewed: Your search is automatically limited to scholarly journal articles.
  • Full Text: Your search should be limited to results that are available to read in full.

Look for the FILTERS option on the search results page, or for an "advanced search" page to find these tools - and more!

You can evaluate any source using the 5 W's:

  • Who: ...wrote it? Are they an expert?
  • What: ...is the purpose of this resource?
  • Where: ...was this information published? ...does the information come from?
  • When: ...was this published or last updated?
  • Why: ...is this resource useful? ...is this resource better than other ones?
chat loading...