Let's assume that you have settled on a topic and have gotten your supervisor's approval. You now need to further refine your topic and proceed to identify sources. Start off by stating your topic as one or several specific questions e.g. you need to find out about strategic planning and the marketing process in organisations. One of the questions posed will be "is strategic planning necessary to achieve organizational goals?" Identify the key phrases and keywords in your question. These will be words or phrases that describe your topic generally and your research(s) in particular. In the above example some of the keywords and key phrases will be strategic planning, marketing planning process, organisational goals, organisational mission, tactical planning etc. Keep track of all your keywords as they may be handy later on. As you proceed, you will discover which words produce more results.
Use Boolean operators (OR, AND, NOT) to connect the concepts and keywords which you have identified in your search topic. It will help broaden (increase) and narrow (decrease) the search results.
Refer to Step 3: Use the Library catalogue, the section on Using Boolean Searches for tips on how to use Boolean operators. Expect the list to grow as you proceed in your search for the "right" results. |
