Skip to Main Content

COUN 5391: Research Methods: Search Strategies

This guide is for the students in COUN 5391 course in RRC.

Search Tips

Search by keywords/small phrases and use Boolean searching.

AND: reading AND motivat*
OR:  "phonemic awareness" OR "phonological awareness"

Use "quotation marks" to search for whole phrases > "alphabetic principle"

Use the database’s built in limiting features. Some databases have a filter for full-text and/or peer-reviewed journals.

Consider truncation. The symbol used is usually *. read* will retrieve: read, reading, reader, etc.

Check Subject terms to see if there are any synonym terms to consider.

Searching for Full Text

If you come across a citation to an article and you'd like to track down its full text, follow the steps below:



Wesley-Nero, S., & Davis, D. (2024). Integrated Professional Learning: Boundary-spanning graduate leadership education with principals and district leaders. Journal of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, 8, 1–24.

| Google Scholar


Google Scholar can be a useful tool when collecting research information. Settings can be updated to display:

Library Links - FindIt@Txstate
Bibliography Manager - EndNote (refers to Desktop EndNote)

LibKey Nomad | CMU LibrariesLibKey Nomad

This is a browser extension - if you find an article on the web, it will bring you to the full-text through TXST Libraries. This tool can also help with alerting you to journals considered "Problematic" (potentially predatory).