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Research Steps

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the critical steps in conducting effective research. It outlines the process of selecting a topic, brainstorming keywords, developing a strong thesis statement, and formulating a search strategy. Learn about the importance of flexible terminology, the use of Boolean operators to refine searches, and the significance of keyword phrases versus predetermined subjects. Additionally, discover the role of truncation and wildcards in broadening search results for accurate and relevant resources in the library catalog.

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Research Steps

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  1. Research Steps • Step 1—select a topic • Step 2—brainstorming for keywords • Step 3—develop a thesis statement • Step 4—develop a search strategy • Step 5—search for resources

  2. Library Catalog The library catalog requires the use of specific searching techniques. The following slides will help you with these searching techniques.

  3. Keywords • Flexible terminology • Easier to do searches • Less accurate

  4. Keyword Phrases • Single concept, multiple words • Some electronic resources require keyword phrases be enclosed with punctuation • Quotation marks • Parenthesis

  5. Basic phrase Proper names Hyphenated words Slogans, advertisements Famous quotes Movie titles, song titles, etc. (computer disk) “Native American” (x-ray) “kills bugs dead” (to be or not to be) “Lord of the Rings” Keyword Phrases

  6. Subjects • Predetermined terminology • Library of Congress • More difficult to use in searches • Very precise

  7. Native American Indians of North America Keywords vs. Subjects

  8. Boolean Operators • Boolean Operators connect keywords only • Must be placed between keywords • AND • Narrows your search • OR • Expands your search with synonymous terms • NOT • Excludes words from your search • If used too much, it can work against you!

  9. Boolean Operators • AND • queenandEngland • trendsand teaching and “united states”

  10. Boolean Operators • OR • queenorroyalty • teachingor education or schooling • AND & OR together • queenorroyalty and England • trends and teachingor education or schooling and “united states”

  11. Boolean Operators • NOT • queennothearts • schoolnot fish • AND, OR & NOT together • England and royalty or queennothearts

  12. Truncation (Wildcards) • Non-universal symbols used in searching • Common symbols: * ? • Used with a root word • Used to replace a vowel or single character

  13. Truncation (Wildcards) • Root Word- looks for multiple endings of a word, in this case it takes the place of ‘OR’ • jump? • jump, jumps, jumper, jumpers, jumping • athlete and jump or jumps or jumping • athlete and jump?

  14. Truncation (Wildcards) • Singular/Plural- replaces a vowel or single character in a word, in this case it takes the place of ‘OR’ • wom*n • woman, women • history and woman or women • history and wom*n

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