Searching

Name: Working research question: Searching Activity You’re going to do two searches related to your research topic: one database search and one non-database search. For each, you will amend your search if it does not yield appropriate results. For each, answer the questions listed. For the non-database search, fill out the following: ● Search tool used (e.g. Google Scholar): ● Search phrase (exactly as typed): ● Number of results found: ● Were there too many, not enough, or a good amount? (the sweet spot is 100 - 200 results) ● Titles of first five results: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ● If you didn’t get an acceptable amount of results, either narrow or refine your search. What was your new search phrase? How many results did it yield? For database search, fill out the following: ● Database used: ● Search phrases and which areas of the document you’re searching in (e.g. Trump (Name of Article) AND January 6 (Entire Document)): ● Number of results found: ● Were there too many, not enough, or a good amount? ● IF TOO MANY: Narrow your search using database tools (e.g. entering a date range, selecting only certain publication formats, etc.), trying to get as close to 100-200 results as possible. How many results show up now? ● IF NOT ENOUGH: Broaden your search. What does your new search look like? How many results does it yield? After you’ve completed your two searches, write a 150 - 250-word reflection that answers the following questions: ● Which search yielded the most promising set of results? Why? What did you do correctly in that search? Where might you have gone wrong in others? ● Describe your search thought process. When narrowing or broadening your search, how did you determine which areas to tweak? ● Does this change your topic in any way? Maybe your current topic didn’t yield enough results, or maybe it yielded too many, and you were unable to narrow them to a reasonable amount. Maybe a result answered your exact question (“perfect source”). If your question changed at all, what is your new question?