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SOC 5

Basic Search Tips

SearchUnlike Google, library 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: Is there evidence of long term positive health outcomes for Latinx adolescent girls who play sports?

Keywords: health outcomes, Latinx, adolescent, girls, sports

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: sports     Synonym: physical activity

 

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.

Example of tools to refine searchLibrary databases have built in search tools. Try some of these:

  • Date: Limit your search to sources published between specific years.
  • Scholarly Journals: Limit your search to scholarly journal articles.
  • Format: Limit your search to articles, books, images, etc.
  • Subject: Think of subjects as official hashtags. Use them to find sources about that subject.

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

Advanced Search Tips

 

Keyword search for girls AND sports

Use the operator AND to find only sources that mention both keywords.

girls AND sports

This search will bring back fewer results than searching either keyword on its own.

Keyword search for adolescent OR teen

Use the OR operator to expand your search with additional keywords.

adolescent OR teen

This will find sources that include either word, so you'll see more results than by searching for just one keyword.

Search ofr physical activity and girls and latin* and health

Use the “QUOTES” strategy to search for several words in a phrase.

"physical activity"

This will bring back results that only use that exact phrase.

In the sample search on the right, using latin* will retrieve all of the words latinx, latina, and latinas.