Ever search for something and get hundreds of thousands of results, but then when you add more terms, you get zero?
It's happened to all of us!
A good rule of thumb is to always get your results under 80 before you look at them. Two ways to do that:
We strongly recommend making an appointment with a librarian for any questions along any point of this process. We'd love to work with you!
Chicago campus:
Vancouver campus: email adoyle@adler.edu
Online campus: email: onlinecampus@adler.edu
1. Visualize your topic
2. Search relevant database(s) for your topic
A. Use databases' subject headings
B. Combine terms
C. Refine your topic:
D. Narrow or expand search, as needed
3. Read the articles you find! Use what you read to locate more articles
4. Evaluate your resources.
5. Get organized! Save your citations & create your bibliography.
Start with this video on choosing on adjusting your topic from North Carolina State University Libraries.
This guide was created by Frances Brady for Adler University.