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SPAN 6350: Introducción a la lingüística hispánica (Gupton): Searching Techniques & Tips

Developing a Research Question

Research Questions are concrete, are measurable, and answer a pressing research need.

Steps in Developing a Research Question

1) Define: define the broad area you want to study (for example, "private prison efficacy," "alternatives to use of police force on the mentally ill," "prison educational opportunities and recidivism")

2) Describe: describe the problem in simple terms (for example, "X number of lethal force incidents in Y community involve mentally ill individuals undergoing a psychotic break.)

3) Specify: specify what we (the larger research community) don't know about this topic (for example, "Does the creation of specially trained police units to deal with mental health problems decrease lethal force involving individuals experiencing a psychotic break?" or "Are strategies adopted by larger municipalities able to be scaled down for smaller populations with the same results?). Too broad a question will hinder you in being able narrow down to a single answerable question, too narrow a question will hinder you in finding enough research to answer.

4) Create: create your research question based on the information you've gathered. Make sure your question is concrete, specific, measurable, and answerable.

You may go between these three steps multiple times before hitting on a good research question. Don't be discouraged if you try a few dead ends before you have gathered enough information to write your research question.

Developing Research Questions

Search terms

Choosing the most effective terms for your search is the key to success. Remember that you may be working in a multilingual environment, which will influence which terms you choose and how you combine them. Once you have decided on a topic, start making a list of the words you think will best describe the subject. As you search in the resources available to you, you will find materials in multiple languages. There might not be a direct correspondence between the words in English and those in other languages.

Boolean Searching

AND, OR & NOT are Boolean search operators. You can use these words to direct a database how to search for your concept terms.

Creates a union search - all terms join to form one group.
Creates a larger set of results - broader searches
Works well for different spellings of the same word
Works well for different types or examples of the same concept

Boolean union search combinining types (sucralose OR aspartame OR saccharin) You can combine AND, OR, and NOT to build very complex searches by grouping each concept in parentheses.

(surcalose OR aspartame OR saccharin) AND headaches

You can use OR with dissimilar concepts, but watch out for the relevancy and result size. This example would need refining, but could be a useful starting point.

(cats OR dogs) AND "household pets"

AND

Combines concepts to find an area of overlap
Creates a smaller set of results - more narrow searches

Boolean AND search - area of overlap between artificial sweetner and headaches

NOT

Is an exclusionary search that can be extremely effective when combined with a field search
Good for eliminating false hits
Good for eliminating terms that may broaden the search
Good for eliminating the wrong types of articles

In the following example, I want to look at different types of therapy that cats and dogs are used for, but I'm not interested in therapy to remove phobias about dogs or cats. Also, I happen to know that authors Samuel and Elizabeth Corson do research on drug therapy used for aggressive animals. That would be the wrong direction, so I want to exclude their articles.

Same of Boolean searching combined with fields (subject and author)

Indexes and Full Text

See the "Library Resources" tab in this guide for database suggestions. Keep in mind that some databases are indexing databases (they point to the source you need, often using the "UGA Access" button, for example, HAPI), while others are full-text databases (for example, LLBA).

Generally, the indexing databases will connect you to a full-text source if it is available to UGA. Full-text databases may have time-sensitive obstacles such as access limitations. Some sources in JSTOR, for example, are not available as full-text for 1-5 years after publication. However, the indexing databases will still provide the citation, and the "UGA Access" button will often connect to a different database that provides online access.

Expanding searches, or how to get MORE:

Truncation using symbols (such as * or ?) will help you get more citations using one term.
- Linguist* covers both the English and the Spanish terms. (You may have to do your search several times to cover the various terms you have identified.)

Search Strategy Builder

The Search Strategy Builder is a tool designed to teach you how to create a search string using Boolean logic. While it is not a database and is not designed to input a search, you should be able to cut and paste the results into most databases' search boxes.

SSB created by University of Arizona Libraries and located at GitHub

Set searching

Set searching allows you to break apart sections of a Boolean search and recombine them. Each search you try becomes a line in a grid. At any time you can check off a box to combine lines by a Boolean command.