Connelly Library

A search strategy is a plan that outlines how you will find useful information on your topic. It involves:

• Identifying key concepts

• Selecting appropriate keywords and phrases (including synonyms and related terms)

• Choosing the right tools or databases to search

The background research you did while picking your topic can now be used to help you develop your search strategy (If you didn't need to pick a topic, and haven't done any background research yet, find more information here.)

Background information gives you context and essential facts about your topic. Consider the following:

• Key figures, events, and ideas related to your topic

• Preferred terms and language used to talk about your topic

Knowing the correct terminology or "lingo" is important for effective searching, as it often differs from everyday language (e.g., "heart attack" is technically called a myocardial infarction).

Creating a Keyword List

Using the background research you’ve done, create a list of:

• Relevant keywords

• Related terms and synonyms

You won’t search all these words at once, but having a comprehensive list prepares you for the trial and error involved in searching. This way, you’ll be ready to adapt your search strategy as needed.

Decide Where to Search

Google is often the go-to tool for finding information online, and we’re not here to tell you to stop using it! However, if you rely solely on Google (even Google Scholar), you’ll miss out on a lot of important and useful information.

Library databases offer access to high-quality, reliable sources that aren’t available for free on the web—and they’re just as easy to use as Google.

Why Use Library Databases?

• High-Quality Sources: Library databases provide access to scholarly materials like academic journals and books, written and reviewed by experts in their fields. In contrast, the free web often hosts blogs or general websites that lack this level of scrutiny, making them less reliable for academic research.

• Access Beyond Paywalls: Many academic journals and books are behind paywalls and aren’t accessible through search engines like Google. Connelly Library’s databases subscriptions give you free access to these valuable resources. Without them, you might miss out on research materials that are essential for your assignments.

Connelly Library Resources

• Databases: Connelly Library offers access to many databases, each typically focused on a specific discipline or subject area. The list is organized alphabetically, but can be limited by subject area.
• Research Explorer: To make your research easier, use Research Explorer on the Library’s homepage. This aggregated search tool allows you to search most of our databases at once, so you don’t need to know which databases are best for your research before you get started. Think of it as Google for the library—but instead of searching the entire free web, it searches the entire library.

Once you have developed your search strategy, there are some techniques, database features, and tips that can help you search more effectively. 

Start Broad

Begin by searching for keywords related to your research topic

Example: If your topic is "Effects of social media on mental health", start with broad keywords like "social media" and "mental health"

Review the initial results to identify more specific terms, synonyms, and related concepts

Progressively narrow your search by adding more specific keywords

Example: "social media addiction", "anxiety", "depression", "self-esteem"

Booelean Search Operators 

These are special terms used to give you more control over your searches. The most common operators are AND, OR, and NOT, and you can use them to tell the search function exactly how you would like it to combine and use your search terms.

AND narrows the search by requiring all terms to be present

• Example: "social media" AND "mental health" will only return results that contain both phrases
• Use AND when you want to focus on the relationship between concepts

OR broadens the search by including results with any of the terms

• Example: "anxiety" OR "depression" will return results containing either term
• Use OR to search for synonyms or related concepts to expand your results

NOT excludes results containing a specific term, narrowing the search

• Example: "social media" NOT "facebook" will exclude results mentioning Facebook
• Use NOT to eliminate irrelevant results, but be cautious as you may exclude useful sources

Combine operators for more complex searches:

• Example: ("social media" OR internet) AND (addiction OR "problematic use") AND (youth OR adolescents)

Often times Boolean search terms are built into the advanced search option in databases, making it easier to build complex searches. In Connelly Library's Research Explorer look for this option on the top right!

Search for exact phrases

Place quotation marks around a phrase to search for those exact words in that exact order

Example: "social media addiction" will only find that precise phrase

Without quotation marks, the database will return results containing all the words in any order

Limiters

These allow you to filter your results by useful criteria like date, source type, and more once you have done a search. Find more information on using them in Research Explorer HERE.