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SOCI 60: The Practice of Social Research: Search Strategies

This is a course guide designed to help students in SOCI 60 complete their research project and follow along during the library sessions.

Searching Effectively

Database Strategies for Search Terms

Start your search by identifying key terms that describe your topic.

Clarify your research needs by creating a research question.

Focus on the nouns. Do not use words like "effects" or "relationships". These types of words are too common and not specific enough to help you locate relevant information.

Think about synonyms or other related terms as well.

Spell out acronyms.

Once you have identified your key terms, think strategically about how to use them. See the strategies below.
Strategy	Description	Example
Boolean (AND, OR, NOT)	AND, OR, Not are the three words used as connectors between your search terms. They are called Boolean Operators. AND Results contain sources with all search terms Narrows the number and focus of results OR Results contain sources with any of your search terms Broadens the number and focus of results Used with synonyms or related terms NOT Eliminates sources containing the term after NOT Narrows the number and focus the results	AND artificial intelligence AND generative AI will give you results containing these words together in the same record OR artificial intelligence OR machine learning will give you results that talk about either of these, regardless of whether they appear in the same record Synonym example: artificial intelligence OR neural networks NOT artificial intelligence NOT Chat GPT would be a way to get results about artificial intelligence that don't include the word Chat GPT
Truncation	Truncation is a search technique that broadens your search to include various word endings. To truncate your search terms, replace the word ending with an asterisk *	politic* will include records with politics, politician, and political
Adjacency	Adjacency is a way to tell the database that you want words to appear in a specific order. Some databases will do this automatically, but some will not. Add quotation marks around the search terms to force adjacency if needed.	"artificial intelligence" will give you records only when these words appear together.
Subject Headings	Subject Headings are database-specific preferred terms and are structured vocabulary that field scholars use to discuss their topic. E.g., GenAI (natural language) vs. generative artificial intelligence (subject heading) Characteristics of Subject Headings (From MIT Libraries): Pre-defined "controlled vocabulary" words used to describe the content of each item in the database Less flexible to search by - need to know the exact term used Database looks for subjects ONLY in the subject heading filed or descriptor Database looks for subjects ONLY in the subject heading filed or descriptor Use if too many results - can help focus on one aspect of a broader topic Results are usually very relevant to topic Characteristics of Keywords Characteristics (From MIT Libraries): Natural language and words describing your topic More flexible to search with; can combine together in multiple ways (AND, OR, NOT) Database looks for keywords everywhere in the record May yield too many, too few results, or irrelevant results	When you search for articles, you can use any combination to find what you're looking for. keyword + keyword subject heading + subject heading keyword + subject heading Since subject headings are created by someone other than you, you should look for them within the results of your keyword searches or a database thesaurus. Most databases will have a thesaurus. Subject headings are usually listed within the details of an article. An example of when a subject heading might be useful is when you search for GenAI. This includes thousands of records, some of which you may not be interested in. You may find it useful to look at the Thesaurus for a more precise term, like generative artificial intelligence.

Refining Search Results (Database Features)

Use these features to help you refine your search results. These features work best when you have identified the relevant keywords for your topic. If your keywords are not helping you find the information you seek, consider other keywords before exploring the features below.
Feature	Description	Example
Limits/Filters	Limits provide database-specific recommendations for narrowing a search. Applying limits will filter out results that don’t meet your search requirements. Be careful applying the date limiter. It can be too limiting, and you may miss foundational articles that support your topic. Use the Times Cited function can be a better way of finding more recent articles.	Examples of limits/filters: peer review study type format (review, article, book chapter)
Abstract	The abstract of an article is a brief summary of the article's contents that can help you determine if you want to read the full text. The abstract is usually listed within the search results under an article title. You can use the abstract to help modify your search by skimming it for additional keywords.	Click on the article title to read the full abstract if it's not presented in the search results.
References	Bibliography Scholarly articles often have extensive reference lists or bibliographies. Some databases include these in the record and you can link directly to them. You can use references in a bibliography to learn about the research used in writing the article, which may lead you to additional articles about your topic. Times Cited/cited By Think of Times Cited references as the opposite of a bibliography. Where bibliographies include references older than the article, Times Cited references are newer than the article. It means someone found the information in the article valuable and cited the article within their own writing. Times Cited references can help you find more recent articles than the one you are reading.	The reference information is in the article's details after clicking the title. It's often located in the sidebar.
Related Articles / Suggested Sources	When you find an article that you think will be good to use, you can take advantage of “related articles” to find similar articles. There are different formulas for determining how an article is “related,” but it usually combines the same keywords and subject headings.	This information can be found in the article's details after clicking the title. It's often located in the sidebar.