Use a Search Plan to approach your research strategically.
A search plan has three parts that work together to help you find your sources.
Where will you look for information?
Search tools may be open web, like Google, or "deep web" or "hidden web", like Library databases.
Some standard search tools for any topic or subject include:
How will you look for information? What techniques or hacks will you use in the tools you choose?
Explore these helpful strategies.
The words you choose matter; select search terms with care. Avoid putting your search in the form of a question.
Put 2 or more words inside quotation marks to turn them into a single word; so "black cat" looks for results with these 2 words as a phrase. Without the quotation marks, the tool will look for the words black and cat anywhere in the results.
Search tools usually make suggestions for keywords and search terms as you type in the search box - Use them!
Overwhelmed by search results? Limit by picking filters such as date or source type (academic journal, ebook, etc.).
What will you do as you search and start finding results?
You need to be:
Use these to find all types of source, including research starters (explainers), scholarly/academic sources and popular sources, such as news, magazines, books, and more.
Books and book chapters published by university presses are often overlooked scholarly sources. Try searching the ebook collections for more.
Librarian Favorite: Oxford University Press publishes scholarly topic explainers in their series, A Very Short Introduction.
Provides subject and topic introductions written by authors who are experts in their field.
Most people think of journal articles when they look for scholarly sources. To find these, use any Power Search Tool, or try one of these specialty tools.
Power Search Tools:
Need help using scholarly sources? Try these explainers.
eLibrary®—the user-friendly general reference tool—delivers one of the largest general reference collections of periodical and digital media content designed to support every range of users, including middle and high school students, college-prep and college-level researchers, and professional educators. Educators can even search for resources that correlate to state and national standards, including Common Core State Standards. eLibrary’s updated interface and features make research easy. Researchers will find the answers they need from more than 2090 full-text magazines, newspapers, books, and transcript titles, plus a collection of over 7 million maps, pictures, weblinks, and audio/video files.