Search strategies & tips

Identifying key terms

Research topics often spring to mind in a form that makes it challenging to find answers in scholarly literature. Dissecting a topic into its component parts is an essential first step which makes it easier to find all the relevant information!

Here's an example: How have findings from ergonomics research affected office chair design?

To identify key terms that best represent the concepts in your topic, ask yourself questions like:

What object or population group are you interested in?
What technique or method are you studying?
What scientific discipline are you focused on?
Who? Where? When? How?

Identify the key terms as chair design and ergonomics

Developing a search string

To develop an effective search, consider how you will combine your key words in the search box. Using Boolean operators (e.g. AND, OR and NOT) gives you more control over your search results because you’re speaking the database’s language.

How to use Boolean operators:

Identify the ‘big ideas’ in your research topic
For each ‘big idea,’ brainstorm related words and synonyms for it
Connect the related words together with OR
Put brackets around each group of related words
Combine the ‘big ideas’ together with AND

I will use the search: chair design AND (ergonomics OR human factors)

Advanced search techniques

Searching is an iterative process, and your first search string might not be the best one. Here are some more techniques for narrowing or broadening your search results:

Narrow/decrease your search results

Adding in a new concept with AND
Using quotation marks, e.g. “human factors” instead of human factors
Using limiters to refine your search, e.g. limit to “Review” or limit by “Publication Years”
Sorting the results by “Relevance” or “Times Cited”
Using NOT to filter out irrelevant concepts, e.g. chair design NOT swivel chairs
Field searching, e.g. searching only within the “Title” field

Expand/increase your search results

Adding more related terms with OR
Using an asterisk, e.g. ergonomic* for ergonomic, ergonomics, ergonomical, etc.
Using broader keywords, e.g. furniture design instead of chair design
Looking at cited and citing articles, related articles, bibliography

Books & background information

Search the Library Catalogue

If you aren’t familiar with a term or idea you read about in a research paper, check out an encyclopedia or dictionary to get information at a more basic level! To find background sources, include encyclopedia OR handbook OR dictionary OR manual in your search
You can find recommended background sources at the BPK Research Guide
If needed, check out the advanced tips on the Catalogue Search Guide

Journal articles & conference proceedings

Connect to Ergonomics Abstracts | Connect to PubMed | Connect to Web of Science

Remember:

Speak the database’s language (using Boolean operators) & get the right stuff faster!
You can limit your results to conference proceedings by using the content type filter in the left-hand column.
Use the Where can I get this? button to search the library’s holdings and locate the full-text article.
You can find more relevant databases at the BPK Research Guide

Evaluating information sources

It is important for you to understand the differences in the type of publications you will encounter. Often popular science magazines or websites will summarize recent reports from the primary scholarly literature for the general public. Scholarly publications report on new research or ideas and are used for scholarly communication.

You need to think critically about the resources you use. See Evaluating Web Sites for some guiding questions that can help you critically evaluate information sources.

Citing your sources

Throughout the research process, it important to keep a detailed list of all sources you consult as you will need to cite them in the bibliography of your essay. Citing is the practice of acknowledging in your paper the sources from which you obtained information.

You are required to follow the APA format for your bibliography. Use the Library APA Citation Guide for rules and examples.

BPK 180: Introduction to Ergonomics

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