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1. Define your topic in terms of a few keywords or concepts.
For example: I am researching  the changing status of women in China.
(The keywords in this example are: women and China)

2. Think of synonyms and different ways to phrase your topic.

3. Use keywords in different combinations when searching and remember to be flexible and persistent.

4. Spend some time defining the appropriate databases for your needs. If you have questions, consult a reference librarian.

Computer searching - basic rules:

When keyword searching in just about any database, you should be able to do the following:

1. Use "and" to combine terms - narrow your search down and focus onto your specific topic by combining two or more terms.
Ex.: women and china

This is sometimes accomplished  by selecting  the option, "AND", from a pull-down menu.

2. Use "or" to broaden your search by stringing synonyms or alternative forms of words together.
Ex.: women or gender or feminist

This is sometimes accomplished  by selecting  the option, "OR", from a pull-down menu.

3. It is often useful to combine "and" and "or" statements in one search.
Ex.: (women or gender or feminist) and (china or hong kong)

If you are using a search screen with pull down menus, you can type the first part of your search on one line, with your terms separated by "or", select "AND" from the pull-down menu option, and then type the second part of your search on the second line.

4. A lesser used command but one that is available in most databases is "not". The "not" command gives you the ability to exclude certain terms from your search results.
Ex.: rural not urban

This is sometimes accomplished  by selecting  the option, "NOT", from a pull-down menu.

5. An important part of computer searching is using truncation.  Another word for truncation is wildcard.  A truncation symbol or wildcard is represented by a character that is usually placed at the end of a word part. This character tells the computer to retrieve all variant forms of the word.

Ex.: anthropolog? (? is the truncation symbol used in  the UVM Libraries Online Catalog, Voyager)
retrieves records with any of the following words in them:

anthropology
anthropological
anthropologist
anthropologists, etc.

Using truncation in your searches whenever it is appropriate will greatly enhance your search results. Computers are very literal and will look for exactly what you tell them. By using truncation appropriately, you can substantially increase the terms the computer looks for and add great depth to your search.

Please be aware that truncation symbols vary widely from database to database. For ex.,
The UVM Libraries Online Catalog  = ?
Expanded Academic ASAP, Academic Search Premier = *
LEXIS/NEXIS = !

6. Putting all these concepts together will allow you to design some fairly sophisticated searches that will yield useful results.
Examples:
a. (women or gender or feminis?) and (china or chinese)
b. (women or gender or feminis?) and (rural not urban) and (china or chinese)
 

7. Throughout this process, remember the importance of being flexible. If one term doesn't work as well as you'd hoped, try another. If you've discovered other relevant ways of phrasing your topic, use them.  If you are generating  too many results, narrow or focus your search more by adding a search term.