Libraries' Reusable Boxes: Infographics for Database Search Tips

Find news, encyclopedia, and journal articles in the databases

• Use main ideas
• Add quotes around phrases
• Use Boolean
• Apply filters

Example: war and ethics and "just cause"

Find videos, audiobooks, images, and more in the databases

• Use main ideas
• Add quotes around phrases
• Use Boolean
• Apply filters

After a little background research, you can refine your topic.  Here are some questions to help focus your topic/question:

• Is there a subset?  Example: Psychology --> Developmental Psychology
• Is there a cause/effect relationship?  Example: Television and brain development
• Is there an unanswered question?  Also called a gap in the literature
• Can you focus on a time, place, or group of people?  Example: Television and development in infants (0-1)

Information is not created equally.  Ask yourself questions before using that source.

• Who is responsible for the information?  Should that author or publisher?
• What about references?  Are there any?
• Where else is the information repeated?
• When was it published?
• Why was it published?