1. How do I search for my research topic or question?
- Identify the main ideas of your topic and use those as your search words
- Each article has tags assigned to it, words or shorts phrases that make them searchable - you want your search words to match those tags
- Words like factors, effects, issues, relationships, links are usually not used as tags - don't include them as search words
- Example: The question for your research project is: What factors determine whether or not children experience catch up growth?
- To search for this topic: catch up growth child*
- child* will search for child and children
- "catch up growth" will search for catch up growth as a phrase, not separate words
2. How do I focus the search hits to just peer-reviewed journal articles?
- Use Refine Your Search options to focus your search hits to just peer-reviewed articles
- Click on Peer Review
- Click on Journal Articles under Content Type
3. I have too many irrelevant search hits. How do I focus them?
- Use Refine Your Search options to focus your search hits:
- Under Discipline, click on the disciplines to which you want to focus your paper
- Under Subject Terms, click on the subjects to which you want to focus your paper
- When you find an article that looks interesting, look at its assigned Subjects (tags)
- Add any relevant subjects to your search
- This will also help you focus your research topics and questions and search for books and articles for them.
- Example: Many different factors influence catch-up growth. Focus your research question and paper to two or three factors and how they relate to each other.
4. How do I know my search words match the tags assigned to articles about my research question?
- As you scroll through the search hits, look at the Subjects (tags) assigned to the relevant articles you find, and see if they match your search words
- Subjects (tags) also help you identify the specific populations or issues in your research area
