Boolean Operators are simple words (AND, OR, NOT ) used as conjunctions to combine or exclude keywords in a search, resulting in more focused and productive results. Databases, when displaying their Advanced Search modality, always include these three words as optional connectors between separate search bars. If typing them in yourself within a single search query, they MUST BE CAPITALIZED to function properly.
AND
Use AND to narrow a search and retrieve records containing all of the words it separates, e.g. adolescents AND children will only find records containing both these words.
OR
Use OR to broaden a search and retrieve records containing any of the words it separates, e.g.adolescents OR children will find records containing adolescents only, children only, or both words.
NOT
Use NOT to narrow a search and retrieve records that do not contain the term following it, e.g. adolescents NOT children will find records that contain adolescents, but will not contain the word children
Keyword Searching: Keyword searching is a great starting point. In academic research tools- keywords are critical! Finding useful keywords, putting them together well, and tracking your results systematically will help you improve your search technique and save you time.
Try starting more generally, then get more specific as you go along. This applies on a number of levels.
Subject Searching: Once you have a defined research question or area of interest, a subject search will return resources in databases and library catalogs that are grouped by the subject they address. Subject searching is a more precise way to query databases.
Ways to focus on a topic:
Brainstorming: Write down topics suitable for your assignment that interest you, check your textbook and other sources.
Current event survey: Check a couple reputable open web sources for topics of interest suitable for your assignment. For news articles you could check Science Daily or the National Science Foundation Biology News.
Check library resources
Ways to refine your topic:
Free associate: Write down ideas that come to you. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation at this point. If you are better at speaking than writing, try recording your ideas. You could sketch a drawing to capture any ideas you have about your topic.
Clustering/Mind mapping: Write your main idea in the center of a page, then write information about that idea around the topic. Draw lines to connect the ideas that belong together to help you refine your topic.
Browse sources: Do a keyword search in the library catalog to see how others have treated the topic, then browse those sources for ideas.
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