Before you start searching for information, take time to plan your search strategy. This is a crucial stage of the research process as:
When you start out, you may feel overwhelmed by the breadth of information available. However, by planning your searches in advance and applying effective search techniques, you will find the most relevant content for your needs.
This worksheet will help you create your search plan. Break your topic into its key concepts, brainstorm alternative search terms, and identify the best databases for research on this topic.
You've selected your topic and done some background research; now it's time to think about searching. Before you jump into a database and run searches, identify potential search terms from the key concepts of your topic.
This short video below introduces some strategies for choosing search terms to get more relevant search results.
| Type | Information | Use | Example |
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| Website | Websites provide access to information, images, videos, and audio. |
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| Newspaper | A collection of articles written by journalists about current events. Typically published daily. |
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| Magazine | A collection of articles and images about a variety of popular topics and current events. Articles are written by journalists for the general population. |
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| Scholarly Article / Peer Reviewed | A collection of articles written by scholars or experts in the field. Scholarly articles, also called academic articles, can be found using databases and cover a wide range of topics and can either be original research or analysis of an issue or topic. |
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| Book | Provide in-depth coverage of a subject. Often include historical or contextual information regarding a topic. |
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Brookens Library Catalog |
| Reference Material | Materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks are considered reference materials. Reference materials can be found both in print and online. |
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