Education Resources

• Consider what type of information you need and where you might find it.
• Break your topic into key concepts and identify terms for each concept. Start with fewer words. Less yields more.
• Don't be too narrow in your search, especially initially.
• While it is possible to find sources on international or local topics, the strength of many of our academic databases is coverage of US national topics.
• Use Boolean connectors like AND, OR, and NOT to connect keywords. Many databases search the words as a phrase otherwise.
• In general, avoid using prepositions like "in," "of," and "on."
• Truncation characters such as an * (asterisk) can expand your search by retrieving various forms of a word, e.g., comput* retrieves computer, computers, computing, computation, etc.
• Look at the subject terms or descriptors that are used for articles that appear relevant. Try other searches using those terms.
• In the sciences and social sciences, when starting a journal article search on a topic, consider adding systematic review or meta-analysis, or literature review in your search.
• Consult a librarian or your faculty member for additional related terms.
• Think about which individuals or groups of people or organizations are associated with your topic. These might be additional terms to search.

Sponsored by the Association for Library Services to Children (a dvisision of ALA) ,  Great Websites for Kids is a compilation of exemplary websites geared to children from birth to age 14.