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Brainstorming
What are the most important concepts in your research question? What are different terms for each concept?
|
bullying cyberbullying |
intervention, intervening peer, peers interpersonal bystander helping empathy |
teen, teens, teenagers adolescents, adolescence middle school youth |
Construct a search. Keep track, you'll probably try many different combinations
| AND |
terms must be present, narrows results |
| OR |
any of the terms may be present, broadens results |
| * |
wildcard looks for different endings teen* finds teen, teens, teenage, teenagers adolescen* finds adolescence, adolescents |
Help with Search Terms
1. Do a search and pay attention to how the results were tagged with subject words. Jot down other descriptive terms from article titles and abstracts.
2. A really good thesaurus like the ones ERIC and PsycINFO have can help you find related, narrower and broader terms. Along with basic searching tips, both of these short handouts with video links show you how to take advantage of the thesaurus.
Comparing Find It & Subject Databases
| Find It @ USC Libraries | Subject Specific Databases | |
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Find It gathers metadata (all the info that describes something) from a LOT of sources--publishers, database creators, library catalogs, etc. The same thing might not be described the same way. Because it is so wide-ranging and diverse, to get the most out of Find It try a lot of different searches using a variety of keywords. |
A database like ERIC, Education Source, PsycINFO, PubMed or SPORTDiscus concentrates on the literature of a discipline. Databases add value by assigning consistent descriptors/subject terms. Because a specialized database represents a smaller universe, a big part of searching effectively is making sure you are including terms the database uses. Look and see if your database has a thesaurus. |
Advanced Search in Find It @ USC Libraries
Use Advanced Search to enter more complex searches with OR for synonyms on the same line. Be sure to capitalize OR, otherwise the same search techniques you use in other databases (* for a wildcard and "quotes around phrases") apply.
Tips for other databases
Dissertations and Theses Global / Dissertations & Theses @ University of South Carolina
Control the number of results and relevancy by changing where your terms are searched. Anywhere searches the entire dissertation if there's a PDF. Anywhere except full text searches the title, abstract, subjects
Set your Library Links in Google Scholar. Connect to content we've paid for.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowConnect directly to USC subscription content:
*Click on the three horizontal bars in the corner, Select Settings and click on Library links
*Search and select USC University Libraries - ViewIt@USC
*Click Save
Never purchase an article! Check the library's resources or make a free ILL request.
PsycINFO
Scroll down the search page to find limits, including:Age Group (Childhood to Very Old), Population Group (Human, Animal, Male, Transgender, Female, Inpatient, Outpatient), Methodology.
How Do I...?
- Finding Action Research, Problem of Practice EdD Dissertations-videoWatch this if you don't want to read the handout (3:06 min)
- Finding Action Research, Problem of Practice EdD Dissertations-handoutSee the steps for finding these sorts of dissertations in the Dissertations and Theses Global database.
- Dissertations in Practice, Curriculum and InstructionSteps for locating dissertations from the online Curriculum and Instruction program in Scholar Commons.
- Recognize and Find Empirical ArticlesVideo tips on how to know if an article is empirical and finding them in PsycINFO.