HE263 Pantages

It can be helpful to ask yourself some questions about your topic in order to make it easier to research. Here are some examples:

• What do you want more information about?
• Is there anything that you are confused about or need to know more about before continuing your research?
• What about the topic interests you the most?
• Are you interested in a specific population (such as college students, millennials, or people experiencing homelessness)?
• Are you interested in a specific location (such as Portland, China, forests, or community colleges)?
• Are you interested in a specific time frame or era (such as the 1980s, the 21st century, or the stone age)?
• Is there anything you are specifically NOT interested in learning about that is related to your topic (such as The Rock, but not rocks)?

You can also try re-phrasing your topic to explain it to a friend or someone who doesn't know as much as you do about it.

If you haven't picked a topic, visit the "Choose a Topic" page on the Research Help Guide.

Any search is only as good as the words that you use. Spend some time before you start searching brainstorming keywords and related terms.

Good keywords are usually nouns and short phrases. For example, if my research question is "How do renewable plastics impact climate change ?" I might pick renewable, plastic, and climate change.

If you are having trouble finding keywords try an online thesaurus such as thesaurus.com.

Sometimes it can help to get more background information on your topic, especially if you don't know much about it. Often in academic papers we aren't allowed to use Wikipedia as a source. Here are some reliable encyclopedias you can try instead:

Use these tips when you search in CCC Library databases. Your search results will be more focused and relevant to your topic!

1. Use quotation marks around phrases and search terms to search for the words in the exact order you would like, instead of separately.
   
2. Use different search boxes for each different idea that makes up your overall topic.
   

Need help with too many or too few results? Call, email, chat with, or stop by and see a librarian!

We all use it - now let's learn to use it better! Improve your Googling skills to save time and make it easier to identify better sources of information.

Quotation marks

• 
• Use quotation marks around your search terms to search for the words in the exact order you would like, instead of separately.

intitle:

• 
• Use intitle: to retrieve webpages with your keywords in the title of the webpage

site:

• 
• Use site:. to retrieve webpages from URLs in the domain (.gov, .edu, .org) you specify.  

- (a hyphen or minus sign) 

• 
• Use - (a hyphen or minus sign) in front of words to exclude them from your search results.

OR

• 
  In the above example, Google will find results that include (election AND fraud) and (voter AND fraud).
• Use OR in between words to have either or both of the words included in your search results. OR must be capitalized. This is a good way to search for synonyms.

filetype:

• 
• Use filetype: to retrieve specific types of files (instead of html webpages). Works for finding most file types.

Combine strategies

• 
• Use several strategies at once for very specific results.