Keyword Searching
To narrow your topic, add additional search boxes to experiment with other key ideas.
Example:
Search String:
DE "student development" AND ( teach* OR learn* ) AND ( compassion OR empathy OR kindness OR caring )
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Focus the Search
Add an additional search concept to make your search more specific. To focus on your own research questions, modify by:
Population characteristic | gifted, second language learner, deaf and hard of hearing, cultural group, ethnicity, etc. |
Population group | boys, girls, males, females, children, adolescents, teens, teenagers, youth, etc. |
Subject area | science, mathematics, reading, etc. |
Grade level | preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, etc. |
You might also consider using terms that reflect possible outcomes such as student attitudes, student motivation, achievement, or rubrics.
Use of peer-review will limit results to scholarly, evidence-based articles. It will also eliminate all ERIC Documents (ED#s) from the results list.
Need a Research Study?
Try searching with research terms. Set the database to look for your terms in the Abstract or Summary. While this doesn't guarantee that every search result will be an original (aka primary) study, it will help. See Recognize Primary Research for more information on how to identify primary research.
Example:
Search String:
emotional development AND ( family OR families OR parent* OR sibling* ) AND AB action research
The Search Strategy Builder is a tool designed to help you create a search string using Boolean search operators. Input your search terms, click the button, and then copy and paste the results into a database search box (e.g., SmartSearch).
The Search Strategy Builder was developed by the University of Arizona Libraries and is used under a Creative Commons License.
Using Citations to Find Books and Articles
Have a citation and need to locate the full text? Find out how you can search for it. (3:33)
Accessing Library Materials Through Google Scholar
Learn how to setup Google Scholar to search the Web and the National University Library at the same time. (2:14)