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GEO 5300: Applied Research Design and Techniques.: Search Strategies

Course Guide for Devine's GEO 5300: Applied Research Design and Techniques

Keywords

Introduction

When you search library resources, you will use keywords related to your research topic. Watch the video below to see how to break down your topic into lists of usable keywords. We call these your "search terms."

When you have a list of keywords, you'll need to combine them. The rest of the information on this page gives examples and tips for combining search terms in order to narrow down your search results.

Remember that the database can't interpret what you mean, so you have to be clear and specific with your searches in order to control the results.

Narrow Down Your Topic

You can narrow down a topic through the 5 questions:

  • Who?
  • What?
  • When?
  • Where?
  • Why?