CSD 130: Introduction to Communication Sciences and Disorders

• Break your topic down into key words and phrases (no more than three words long)
• Look for words that relate to your topic. If you're not familiar with your topic, try a simple Google Search before diving into the databases. Write down keywords as you search that you can use to find more credible sources in the databases.
• Write out synonyms or related terms: teenager as well as adolescent
• Try alternative spellings: color as well as colour
• Truncate (use a wildcard) to get variations on a word: hear* to find hear, hearing, hears...

Searching in databases means organizing your keywords with Boolean operators: AND, OR, and NOT

Use AND for more specific results Teenagers AND Adolescents

Use OR to broaden a search with related terms Children OR Teenagers

Mix and match: (Teenagers OR Adolescents) AND Children*

Image credit: "Logic Gates.svg" by HereToHelp, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, is available via Wikimedia Commons. Nancy R. Curtis cropped images from original graphic, and modified colors to accommodate color vision disabilities.

Know the parameters of your assignment.

Do your resources need to be peer reviewed?

Is there a date range you need to stay within?

Check the database you're searching for the filters they provide to improve your search.