What do you want to know?
Formulating your research question is simple. Consider these questions: What do you want to know from your research? What are your hoping to prove or disprove with your research? What knowledge are you hoping to gain from your research?
Brainstorm keywords on your topic and formulate your question around those keywords.
Boolean Operators
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Social Work Abstracts This link opens in a new windowDesigned specifically for social work issues, abstracts more than 450 social work and human services journals dating back to 1966. Includes theory and practice.
Available to a maximum of 4 simultaneous users, so please close out after you're finished.
The above Database uses Boolean Operators and search terms to find articles.
Boolean Operators are AND, OR, NOT. Multiple operators can be used at once.
When using Boolean Operators it is important to remember:
AND means;
- All selected search terms must be present in the article results,
- Narrows your search results to the selected search terms.
Example: "Social Work" AND "Ethics" will result in a search of articles that ONLY have both terms present in the title/abstract.
OR means;
- Either selected search term may be present in article results,
- Expands your search results to include articles with EITHER search term.
Example: "Social Work" OR "Ethics" will result in a search of articles with either search term present in the title/abstract. Not all articles retrieved will be relevant to your topic and/or research question.
NOT means;
- The second search term will be exclude from the search results,
- Refines your search results
Example: "Social Work" NOT "Ethics" will result in a search of articles on Social Work that do not include/discuss the topic of Ethics in Social Work. Articles could include Social Work care practice implementation in rural areas, or Social Work innovative practices.
| AND | to search for multiple terms i.e.evidence AND admissibility will produce documents that contain both terms. |
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| OR | to search for either one of a pair of similar terms i.e. brief OR evidence will produce documents that contain either of these terms |
| NOT | to exclude a term from a search i.e. evidence NOT briefs will exclude every search result containing the word "briefs" |
| " " | use quotes to search for a phrase i.e. "love canal" will search for documents containing the exact phrase "love canal" |
| ( ) | to search grouped clauses to form sub queries i.e. (watershed OR "water rights") AND planning will produce documents that contain either watershed or water rights and planning |
| ~ | to search for words within a particular proximity of each other i.e. "watershed planning"~10 will search for watershed within 10 words of planning |
| ? | to search for words where there may be variations of the word that you want included in your search i.e. te?t will produce documents that contain text or test |
| * | to search for a word with multiple character differences i.e. brief* will return searches with the words brief, briefs, and briefed |
Brainstorm Search Terms and Keywords
Brainstorm search terms by:
- Considering the who, what, where, when, why of your research questions
- Searching reference sources
- Exploring a database's thesaurus
- Brainstorming keywords with your instructor, a librarian, or your friend
Gale OneFile: Topic Finder
Most Gale databases have a "Topic Finder" feature. In the example database above choose the Topic Finder option at the top. Then type in your research topic (ex. "social work") into the search bar. A graphic will generate with topics and/or search terms you can use in your research. You can click on one of the tiles and it will show you the results that are relevant to that term. You can continue to filter and refine your search terms by clicking on the smaller tiles within.
