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Humanities and Global Studies Capstone: Research: Getting Started

Use this guide to support your research and access authoritative sources to support your year long project.

Start Your Research

 

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  1. Identify keywords
  2. Use Boolean operators to build your search
  3. Develop a search strategy using your keywords and Boolean operators
  4. Consider using a research planner to track your progress

Use Boolean Operators

Use the following terms and punctuation in combination with your keywords to improve your research results in databases and on the web:

  • Use quotation marks around a phrase.

"United States"

  • AND combines keywords or  phrases so that results contain each term.

"civil war" AND slavery

  • Use truncation (*) to expand a keyword search to anything with the word stem.

war* --> wars, warrior, warlord

Research Planner

Consider using a research planner to track your keywords, search strategies, and areas your research covers.

Identify Keywords

 Having trouble coming up with keywords?

  • Start with the terms you know that are related to your subject. As well as including related terms, it can be useful to consider broader and narrower terms.

exploring terms

  • As you find good sources, write down the SUBJECT TERMS that are associated with the article. 

  • Use a reference source such as a dictionary or encyclopedia to clarify the definition of keywords and concepts. A thesaurus can help you find related terms and synonyms.

Develop a Search Strategy

1. Establish the concepts or themes in your research question

Example topic: Discuss strategies for improving electronic communication in the workplace.

Concepts or themes in this topic are: 

  • strategies
  • electronic communication 
  • workplace

2. Brainstorm a list of keywords for each of the concepts or themes

For example, for the term WORKPLACE you might think of the words:

work > organization > office > business 

3. Develop a search strategy by combining your keywords with Boolean operators. 

Example search strategies:

work AND "electronic communication"

It's best to start out with a broad search that just uses a few keywords. If you get lots of results you can then narrow your search by adding more keywords, for example: 

professional AND email AND communication

4. Use your search strategies in different databases and internet browsers to find relevant sources. Make sure that the information you select comes from a range of sources: references, magazines, newspapers, journals, media.