Focus on one clear question that connects to your research topic/community partner topic.
Example: Breaking Down Keywords
Sample Research Question:
"Do reduced public bus schedules have an impact on student on-time attendance?"
Main Concept 1: transportation Alternative Terms: Pittsburgh Regional Transit, public transit, bus schedules
Main Concept 2: Student attendance Alternative Terms: absenteeism, truancy, enrollment, school engagement
Main Concept 3: academic performance Alternative Terms: student success, grades, GPA, educational outcomes, graduation rates
2. Choose Your Topic Area
3. Identify Key Concepts
How to identify concepts:
Look for the main nouns in your research question. These are usually the "things" or ideas your research is about.
Note: Separate alternative terms with commas (e.g., hunger, food access, nutritional deprivation)
Your Search Strategy
AND connects different concepts • OR includes similar terms • "quotes" for exact phrases
Your search string will appear here after you click "generate"
Copy this search string to use in databases
You can paste this directly into most academic databases. Adjust the terms based on your results!
Recommended Databases To Start With
Choose Your Topic First
Select your topic area on the left to see recommended databases for your research.
✓ Your Search Terms
Below is the list of search terms you have generated. You can use these search terms when researching your topic.
How to Use Your Search Terms
Now that you've created your list of search terms, you will need to combine them using BOOLEAN operators (AND and OR). In your example, the combined search terms would look like this:
Tip: If searching all concepts together gives you too few results, try searching just two concepts at a time. Searching all three concepts together sometimes looks for the exact article you're trying to write, rather than sources to help you write it!
Alternative approach: If the Boolean search doesn't work in a particular database, copy individual keywords from your concepts and search with those terms separately or in simple combinations.
Automatically search with your search terms
Click any of the links below to launch a search using these search terms.
Getting too many results when you search? In the database, remove some of the search terms you brainstormed for each concept.
📧 Email instructions to yourself and/or your instructor
Fill out the form below to send an email with your search strategy.
