Library Research Strategies

AND/ OR / NOT:

Using the words AND,OR, NOT between keywords will make a more complex and targeted search.

Using these words connects important concepts in your search to make it more accurate and efficient.

The following are some examples:

• AND makes a search more specific > Global warming AND sea level rise
• OR provides options for terms > Young adults OR teenagers AND anxiety
• NOT eliminates the terms you don't want > Addiction AND opioids NOT alcohol

Quotations make a phrase:

• Use "quotation marks" around phrases to help the database search more accurately.
• By using quotation marks you are asking to only search those words together and not separately.

For example:  "factory farms", "industrial waste", "young adults", "service animals", "social media"

Some examples of how to dig out the important concepts from your research question or thesis statement to locate your keywords.

If your question is:

• What are the emerging trends in the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare and how do they impact nurses?
  • ​​​​​​​You might start searching with: Nurses OR nursing AND "Artificial Intelligence"

If your question is:

• What was the impact of The Great Depression on government policies in the 1930's and 1940's?

  • You might start searching with: Great Depression AND "government policies" 

If your question is:

• In what ways can cyberbullies be effectively prosecuted?
  • Your search might start searching with: Cyberbullying AND law OR prosecution

If your thesis statement is:

• There are multiple impacts of student debt on young adults in the United States.
  • Your search might start with: Student debt OR College debt AND "young adults" AND United States 

The questions below will help you to investigate and narrow down some ideas about your topic. Circle or highlight names, terms, and ideas that interest you the most. You might turn this into a list of search terms or "keywords."  

• WHO - Who is affected by your topic?  Don't just think of the focus of your topic but who are the stakeholders that might be impacted? Is there one group or population that you might focus on?
• WHAT - What are the causes and effects of your topic?  What impacts might there be?
• WHEN - Is there a specific time-period that you might focus on? 
• WHERE - Is there a certain geographic location to focus on?  
• WHY - Why is this topic important?  Why should your audience care? Is there one aspect of this topic that is of interest to you or is coming up a lot in the research you are finding?

You can use this worksheet, or something like it, to organize your terms. It can help to break up your main concepts or important terms into columns. (Printable PDF below)