Identify the keywords or key phrases in your research need.
What are the effects of plastics on the environment?
Identify synonyms for those words and phrases:
Use search techniques to improve your search results:
|“plastic bottles”||quotation marks around phrases|
|ecolog* = ecology or ecological||symbols to expand search terms (truncation)|
|plastics AND environment*||AND, OR, NOT to combine search terms|
|“plastic bottles” AND ecology*||put it all together|
Use the "Identifying Search Terms Worksheet" below to try it yourself.
Mind mapping is a good tool for brainstorming and developing research questions. For help creating your own mind map, check out Mind42 and a tutorial from the University of Arizona on mind mapping by navigating to the links below.