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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:
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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:
Databases, or research databases, is the term librarians use for their search tools.
These tools:
contain what is considered to be valuable content you might otherwise have to pay to use;
require you to log on to access them, or be on campus; and
can be challenging or confusing to use.
Libraries can have so many search tools (databases), it can be hard to know where to start. Try some of of these Librarian Favorites.
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.
This link opens in a new windowBooks 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:
This link opens in a new windowNeed help using scholarly sources? Try these explainers.
This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new windowComplete list of all available library search tools and research databases.
You may be blocked by paywalls when using Google Scholar.