Choosing a Topic

Once you have a topic, and have done some background research on it, you need to think about the scope of your question. Shaping your topic into a workable research question -- one that is neither too broad nor too narrow -- is a crucial part of the research process.

The short [3:16] video below explains how to refine your topic into a narrow research question.

When using a library tool, like OneSearch or Academic Search Complete, we need to translate our natural language topic into keywords. Keywords are the most important ideas or concepts in our topic. 

To get the most relevant results, we can add Boolean operators (also called connectors) between the keywords in our searches.

Boolean operators — words like AND, OR, and NOT — link your keywords together to tell the database exactly what you’re looking for. 

• AND – Narrows your results. All keywords must appear in the source. Some databases add AND automatically, but it’s always fine to include it yourself.
   
• OR – Expands your results. Use it to include synonyms or related terms so you don’t miss sources that use different wording. Any keywords connected with OR should go inside parentheses, e.g. (cat OR kitten OR feline).
   
• NOT – Excludes unwanted terms. This helps you filter out irrelevant results.
   
• Quotations (" ")  – Finds exact phrases (like "United States" or "Pierce College Library"). The database will only return results that contain the words in the exact order you typed them.
   
• Asterisk (*) – Finds multiple version of a word. Typing cat* will find any word that begins c-a-t and has any ending, like cats, catch, catalog, catastrophe, etc.

Want to learn more about adding Boolean operators to your searches? Watch this short [2:44] video: