The most effective searches are arrived at by giving forethought to the
direction of your research. Here are some ideas that will help you become more
effective at finding information.
Narrow your topic: If you are looking for information on health
care,
you
might narrow your topic by looking at gender, a particular age
group (e.g., teens, adults, children), socioeconomic status, race, etc.
Develop initial search strategy. Don't write your search
strategy like
a question; use Boolean operators instead:
(teens or teenagers) and healthcare and (united
states or U.S.)
Choose an information resource that suits your needs:
research database for finding articles from popular
magazines, trade
publications, scholarly journals, and newsletters. I.D. Weeks subscribes
to over 100 databases. To find out which databases would best suit your
needs, return to "Before beginning research" and follow the
guidelines in "How to select a database appropriate to
your research."
library catalog for
finding books, videos, and government documents in the I.D. Weeks Library.
World Wide Web for finding sources in addition to those
found
through the I.D. Weeks Library.
Revise your search strategy based on your search results. You
might
need to use
adolescents as a synonym for teens in our sample search, so add that to
your search. You might
find a word that defines your topic perfectly, so key it in the search
box.
Get the material. If you find an article that is full-text in a
database, then print it, download it, or email it. If you find only a
citation, print it. Then check the library catalog to ensure that I.D.
Weeks
subscribes to the journal you need. If we own the journal, then you'll be
able to
find it on the 2nd floor of the library in alphabetical order. If we do
not own the journal, then you may request the article through the
Interlibrary Loan Dept.