Database Search Strategies That Work
When you are working on your comprehensive examination, you need to be sure to include the most seminal authors in your field - but not every article written on a topic. You have to be selective due to the time constraints. For your dissertation, it is your goal to know more about your topic than anyone else - which means trying to find everything that has been written. You may decided to exclude specific materials because they don't meet your criteria, but it is important to have discovered them initially. Research for your coursework may have involved a few hours of time. For your comprehensive exam or dissertation, reviewing all significant sources requires more effort.
The search strategies listed here: using a variety of databases and sources, using synonyms or subject headings, using Boolean operators and parentheses, and exploring bibliographies - should help you in a couple of ways. First, they will save you time and energy by enabling more efficient searches. Second, you will uncover more material that is relevant to your topic and gain more depth and breadth to your research.
Use a Variety of Databases & Sources
Explore the Databases A-Z in the Capella University Library. Your instructors will expect you to use many specialized databases to get the most credible and in-depth information available. Keep a log of the databases you have searched and the keywords that are most effective. If you keep track as you progress with your research, you will have a better sense of the territory you have covered and what may still be left to do.
Be Flexible in the Terms That You Use: Try Subject Headings
The words that you choose to describe a topic may not be the same words that the researchers or databases use. Take the main concepts from the research topic and think of various ways of phrasing those concepts. For example, the concept of an impact might also be phrased as an effect or result. Concepts also change their names over time, so if you are looking for historical or foundational articles you may need to use what seem like outdated terms. When you begin searching for materials, try using different words in order to find as many items as possible on your topic.
In addition to keyword searching which you are probably familiar with, you can also search by the subject headings that are used by databases. The people who put together databases identify the main topics of an article, report, or book and assign subject headings. These subject headings are the official terms and are used consistently throughout the database. For example, the term panic disorder may be used instead of acute stress disorder. Once you identify the correct subject headings for your topic, you can more easily uncover all of the items on your topic.
Of course, there is no way for you to know the subject headings when you begin searching. Many databases allow you to browse or search a list of the subject headings. Look for a link in the article database that says Subjects, Descriptors, Terms, or Thesaurus. You can also look at the article record where the subject terms are generally hyperlinked.
Note: Not all databases use subject headings.
Use Boolean Operators and Parentheses
Boolean operators are the words AND, OR, and NOT. The words are connectors that can be used when searching a database to define the intended relationship between concepts. Using these connectors will allow you to more precisely retrieve only the items that you need. The strategy can save you a substantial amount of time.
The examples below use Venn diagrams to demonstrate relationships between words and indicate the extent of the information retrieved in various types of searches.
AND
AND is used in searches to identify materials that contain two or more ideas. For example, if you wanted to find articles on private education and funding, you would use the word AND to connect the two ideas. The resulting materials (the center overlap section) would contain both the ideas private education and funding.
OR
OR is used in searches to identify materials that contain either or both terms. For example, if you wanted to find articles about high school students, you could use the word OR to indicate your willingness to look at materials with either of two different ways of expressing the concept. The resulting materials would contain at least one of the terms high school or secondary; the materials might also contain both.
NOT
NOT is used in searches to identify materials that contain one idea but not another. For example, if you wanted to find articles on domestic violence but not ones that mention substance abuse, you could use the word NOT to omit the idea. The resulting materials would contain the term domestic violence but not substance abuse.
Parentheses
Parentheses are used in conjunction with Boolean operators to tell the database how to process the search terms. This is a common practice in mathematics, as shown below. The placement of the parentheses dictates the order in which to process the parts of the equation. You can see that the answer changes depending on which process occurs first.
1 + (2 x 3) = 1 + 6 = 7
(1 + 2) x 3 = 3 x 3 = 9
The same method can be used when searching with words. Using parentheses guarantees that your results will include the concepts you are interested in exploring.
Jobs and income.
Jobs and (income or salary).
(Jobs or employment) and (income or salary).
Use Bibliographies and Cited References to Find Additional Items
References are normally included at the end of a scholarly article or report. Books that are scholarly in nature will also typically contain a bibliography. The list of items contained in the bibliography can be a tremendous help in locating other items that address your topic. When reading research material, be alert for references in the text and consider their relevancy to your research interest. Find these sources in the bibliography and decide whether the items are worth following up on. If so, use the following method to find an item at the Capella University library:
- Articles: When the item is an article in a journal, you can search in Capella University library's Journal Locator to determine whether Capella has the full text of the article.
Article Citation:
Beard, D. (2007). Retaliation Unlawful, Unethical, or Just to Be Expected?. Strategic Finance, 88(2), 32-38. - Books and dissertations: When the item is a book or dissertation, you can search the library's ebook databases or dissertations database (Databases A-Z). To find books or other materials in your local library search the Worldcat database (www.worldcat.org). Search by the title. Next, type in your zip code to find a local library. Check with the policies of the library about usage.
Book Citation:
Cory, J. (2005). Activist business ethics. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Dissertation Citation:
Bristol, A. D. (2005). Everyone is; should healthcare?: outsourcing: issues in strategic planning, organizational culture, and organizational ethics. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2005. - Interlibrary Loan: You can get materials not available in the Capella Library through Interlibrary Loan.
One possible concern related to this strategy is that the items in the bibliography are going to be older than the source in which the bibliography appears. If your topic requires recent information, you may need to look closely at the dates of the items to decide whether the source is current enough. Some databases have a feature that will give you information on if the article has be cited in more recent articles.
Google Scholar
Google has a tool called Google Scholar which is similar to a Google web search but instead of finding Web sites it will gives scholarly articles and books. This tool can be particularly helpful to find seminal works and links to articles that cite other articles.
Resources
Finding Journal articles
Troubleshooting your search
Bibliography Mining and Cited Reference Searching (PDF)
Google Scholar (PDF)
Scholarly Research Log (PDF)
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