1. 1. Research methods Session 1 Planning your search strategy Kirsty Bower Academic Librarian k.bower@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
2. 2. Identifying keywords 1. Break your topic into two or three main ideas 2. Think of keywords and synonyms for these ideas For example
3. 3. Defining your question : breaking it down "Consider the issues concerning food security in Kenya
4. 4. Defining your question : keywords and synonyms Food security Kenya Food safety East Africa Food supply Kenya* Food insecurity
5. 5. Keyword construction : truncation terror* terror terrorism terrorist develop* develop developments development developing *
6. 6. Keyword construction : wildcards and phrases Wom?n woman women organi?ation organisation organization ? climate change arab spring
7. 7. Boolean: Combining keywords water security AND Sub-Saharan Africa water security sub- Saharan Africa" AND and OR
8. 8. Boolean: Combining keywords water security AND Sub-Saharan Africa AND climate change water security Climate change sub- Saharan Africa"
9. 9. Boolean: Combining keywords (war OR conflict) War Conflict
10. 10. Inclusion and exclusion criteria Decide on the time span for example, are you researching a specific event in the past or do you only want very up-to-date information? Limit to Peer reviewed journal articles? Do you want to limit your search to a certain geographical area or country?
11. 11. Summary Planning Keywords and alternative search terms * truncation searching phrase searching ? Wildcard searching Boolean operators And and OR Inclusion and exclusion criteria
12. 12. Help? K.bower@leedsbeckett.ac.uk 0113 8121104