Prepare for searching by identifying the central concepts in your
research question.
Computers are programmed to match strings of characters and spaces
and do not often understand the natural language we use with each other.
They can't guess what you mean, don't "read" subtexts, and are easily
confused by ambiguity, so clarify for them what you will be looking for.
Focus only on essential concepts.
|
example |
explanation |
"media coverage of 9/11" |
Media cover events. Unless the media caused
the event, this term is unnecessary. |
advantages of home
schooling over public schools |
Value words like
"favorite," "advantage," or "better" are not useful if you need to
gather evidence to help you make a decision or develop a solution. Don't
just grab an opinion or the "right" answer off someone else's shelf. |
dissertations about
bioethics |
Many databases and search engines are
programmed to ignore common words that don't impact a search. These are
called "stopwords" and typically include terms like "the," "from,"
"about," "when," etc.
|
Earlier we discussed narrowing and broadening a research question.
Vocabulary can also be broadened or narrowed to find different types of
sources. This chart suggests some alternative vocabulary for the
following research question:
|
Key words |
Broader
|
Related
|
Narrower |
|
Native Americans |
Indigenous peoples, North American history |
Indians, Amerinds, North American Indians |
Makah, Nez Perce, Cherokee, Kwakiutl, etc. |
|
Customs |
Social systems, anthropology, |
Marriage, social relations, spirituality, rites and
ceremonies,
religion, culture |
Lodge house(s), hunting, whaling, potlatch, etc. |
|
Law |
Criminal justice,
U.S. Constitution,
constitutional law |
Legislation,
crimes, treaty rights |
Bureau of Indian Affairs,
NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ),
cases (e.g. Kennewick Man, Neah Bay whaling) |
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Module 2