ENGL 127 Research Writing: Social Sciences (Frye)

Strategize your Research

Find your Research Question 

For essay one you identified research areas explored in an academic discipline. 

This page offers a strategy to identify a specific question that interests you.

Step 1:

Start with a topic explored in your academic discourse community.

  • Ex: I started with the discourse community of psychologists and the general topic of happiness, which I noticed was a theme in the research literature when I wrote essay 1. 
Step 2:

Use the Holman Library One Search to get an overview of research on this general topic. 

  • Type in your academic genre or discipline as a Subject, as in the image below. Ex: psychology as Subject
  • Use the second search field to focus in on the research area.
    • Put phrases in quotation marks to search the words together. 
    • Use truncation to search for forms of a word. Ex: happ*

Happ* AND psychology

Step 3:

Use Filters on the left menu to Limit to Peer Reviewed Journals. You can click: Remember Filters to lock in Peer Reviewed Journals for your subsequent searches. 

Peer Reviewed Journals only

Step 4:

Explore the "landscape" of this topic - meaning skim through the results list. See what kinds of questions about your topic - in my case, happiness, are being addressed in the research. 

  • This small slice of my results list points to social media and happiness, income inequality and its impact on happiness, the relationship between nature and happiness, and self-control and happiness. For my project I would look through many more titles to find the focus for my research.

results list - psychology and happiness

You might find it helpful to use this concept map to track the many conversations on your core idea - and help you find your focus.

Strategize your Search Terms with Keywords & Subject Terms

Library tools are a great way to learn about researching your topic, not just the topic itself!

I: Keywords

Keywords are the key words that capture what we want to research.

Keep a list of possible keywords and add to it as you explore. Look for synonyms, terminology of that discipline, alternative or related words, and other ideas that get at your topic.

Note: You may find that your keywords have multiple meanings and not all the search results are on-topic! Notice in the second example below, the article is about the nature of happiness, rather than how a connection to nature makes one happy.

(Click on images to enlarge)

Ambiguous results

II: Subjects

Look for relevant Subject Terms in the One Search and in individual databases. Subject Terms are the keywords databases use to organize information on a subject. They are particularly useful for finding the scholarly conversation on a subject!

  • TIP: Click on the title of an article that looks useful. Scroll down the page to find the Subject Terms associated with the source. 
  • You can right click on a subject term to start a search with it. You can mix and match subject terms and keywords.

In the image below:

  • I started with the keyword "happ*" to pick up happy, happiness, happier, etc. and I focused it with the subject term: psychology.
  • I decided to focus my research on the question of how/ if being in nature makes us happy.
  • When I clicked on the article "The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis," I found a few Subject Terms that looked highly relevant: "connectedness to nature," "happiness," "nature relatedness," and "subjective well-being."
  • I also found a description/ abstract for the article outlining its argument, methodology, and results.

subject terms and description

 

Strategize an Effective Search

Use Boolean Operators and Database Tools to improve your searches. 

  • Put phrases in quotation marks to keep search terms together in that order. Ex: "right to vote"
  • Use AND to connect and focus your ideas. Ex: psychology AND nature AND happiness
  • Use OR to craft a more flexible or expansive search. Ex: nature OR outdoors AND happiness OR joy OR contentment
  • Use NOT to exclude results. Ex: NOT reviews (that might exclude some of the book reviews found in scholarly journals)
  • Use * or truncation to search for multiple forms of a word from its root. Ex: happ* = happy, happiness, happier
  • Try out the Keywords and Subject Terms you find as you do your research.
  • Use limiters to select peer reviewed journals only, set a date limit, limit to source type, and more.
Source: " From Topic to Search Results in Two Minutes " by HolmanLibraryGRCC , Standard YouTube license

Holman Library One Search: Find Books, Articles, Video & More

Holman Library logo

Use Holman Library One Search to:
  • Search for books, articles, audiovisual, and more in Holman Library
  • Get an overview of information on a subject
  • Track down citations

Use filters on the left to limit by specific source type, date range, and more.