Once you've decided to use a library database and picked the right one for your project, your last step is to figure out what to actually type in the box to search for sources. Here are some tips for putting together a successful search:
Most databases don't do well if you type out your entire research question, e.g. "What are the long-term effects on a child growing up with a parent with narcissistic personality disorder?" They may not be able to find anything at all, or they may give you results that aren't related to the question.
Databases do better if you take your research question and pull out two to four keywords, which are the most important words or terms. If your research question is, "What are the long-term effects on a child growing up with a parent with narcissistic personality disorder?", your keywords could be effects, parent, and narcissistic personality disorder.
Sometimes the obvious keywords from your research question won't be the best ones for finding results in the databases. It can help to brainstorm some synonyms for your keywords. Start with the ones you pulled out from your research question and ask yourself, are there any direct synonyms or related concepts that you could search for instead:
| For the keyword: | effects | parent | narcissistic personality disorder |
| Try these synonyms: |
impacts consequences |
parents mother father caregivers |
narcissism NPD narcissist |
| Try these related concepts: |
coping strategies impact on relationships |
role model |
personality disorder comorbid personality disorders |
Some databases have preferred vocabulary or terms, and you're more likely to find articles if you use their vocabulary. Check to see if the database you're using has a Subjects, Subject Headings, or Thesaurus section. If you type in one of your search terms and the database has preferred vocabulary, it will tell you. It may also give suggestions for additional terms that you can search for.
Some databases have a search feature called truncation, which means replacing part of your search term with an asterisk. For example, searching for the word narcissistic would only find narcissistic, but searching for narcissis* would find narcissism, narcissist, narcissists, and narcissistic. That can save time because you'll be able to do one search instead of three.
Choose the right place to truncate your search term. narcissis* works because there are only a few words that start with "narcissis" and they all have slightly different endings. On the other hand, nar* wouldn't be the best choice -- can you see why?
Which of your keywords could you truncate?
| For the keyword: |
effects impacts coping strategies impact on relationships |
parents mother father caregivers role model |
narcissistic personality disorder
narcissism NPD narcissist personality disorder comorbid personality disorders |
| Can these be truncated? |
effect* would find effect, effects, effected, and effective impact* would find impact, impacts, impacted, and impactful strat* would find strategy, strategies, strategize, and strategizing |
parent* would find parent, parents, and parental caregiv* would find caregiver, caregivers, and caregiving
|
narcissis* would find narcissism, narcissist, narcissists, and narcissists |
Almost all databases have additional options that allow you to make your search more specific to what you need. Common options include:
If you've tried all these strategies and still aren't finding what you're looking for, don't panic. It may help to adjust your search again, try a different database, request an article through interlibrary loan if we don't have it in full-text, and/or work with your professor or a librarian.
