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Research Essentials for the Social Sciences

Essential skills, resources and tools for research in social science disciplines.

Search Strategies

1. Identify search terms. What keywords (key concepts, specific terminology, related terms (synonyms, narrower or broader terms) can we use to search for information on this topic?

Example: for "climate change" your additional search terms might include,  
precipitation, temperature, "extreme weather events"

2. Consider your information needs. Who else is interested in this topic? Scholars? Organizations? The public? Government?  Are there specific perspectives you want to include? How do those interested in this topic share their knowledge?

3. Consider the sources, source types and evidence you need might need. What databases or search tools are most relevant to the types of sources or evidence you need?

Vassar Library Search is a great starting point for books and articles. Also see Vassar's A-Z database list for database recommendations (see Best Bets) for Departments/Programs and Database (Source) Types. 

Search Terms

  • Your first set of search terms are main concepts in your research question/topic. 
    • Use &, OR, NOT to connect your keywords, enclose exact phrases in “  “.
  • Start with a broad & simple search, then refine as you find relevant resources.

Experiment 

  • Try searching with synonyms or related terms. This may include broader terms, narrower terms, and antonyms, i.e. “clean air” OR pollution.
  • As you review search results, examine the titles and abstracts for alternative search terms, phrases & subject headings. Subject headings are standardized terms assigned to articles and books using the Library of Congress subject headings, or database specific subject headings.

Use Database Filters & Functionality

  • Use the database filters to refine & narrow your search results.

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators, AND, OR, and NOT, are used to combine your keywords. 

AND is used to connect different concepts: food production AND "social justice"

Using AND will narrow your search, because the database is searching for sources that contain all the keywords.

 

OR is used to connect similar concepts: food production OR farming OR agriculture

Using OR to connect similar words will broaden your search, because the database is searching for sources that contain at least one of the keywords.

 

NOT will remove any search results that contain a particular keyword: food production NOT "landscaping" 

Using NOT will decrease the number of search results, or narrow our search, because the database will exclude resources with the specified keyword(s) from the results list. 

Phrase Searching

Enclose your keywords in quotation marks to search for an exact phrase: :"food justice" OR "food sovereignty"

quotation marks

 

Truncation

Truncation allows you to account for words with variations.

asterisk

The asterisk(*) is commonly used to truncate a keyword. Place the * where you would like to account for variation: 

         activis* will retrieve: activism, activist, activists

Searching

You will likely go through the search process a number of times, performing different searches with different keyword combinations, to address the different components of your literature review. 

Systematic Searching Handsearching

#1 Identify your question. Your first set of search terms are your key concepts and related terms: synonyms, broader terms, related concepts, variables and measurements. 

Tip:  You may re-phrase your question. Background reading can help you identify related terms and further define or narrow your topic. 

 Explore reference lists to locate other articles, books, or authors who have written on the same topic. 
#2 Find an appropriate search tool. Consider your subject matter, discipline of study, type of information needed (e.g. peer reviewed articles) Find a promising source? Locate citing and cited by literature to view how this source fits into the scholarly conversation AND to track down additional sources.

#3 Start with a simple search based on your key concepts. Tip: You may also have to look at literature that refers to one (not all) aspects of your research question.

 Browse the table of contents of relevant journals and special issues.

#4 Use specific search strategies.

  • Use AND to join dissimilar terms.
  • Use OR to join synonyms or related terms.
  • Truncate words with * to pick up variations of that word. 
  • Use "quotation marks" for phrase searching. 
  • Use database limiters e.g. limit to scholarly journals. 
  • Consider searching in a specific field e.g. title (article title) or source (journal title.)
 Locate an expert in the field and browse their publications.  
#5 Search and skim results. Look for the language and terms that researchers use and that the database assigns to articles; identify and search or refine your results using subject headings or other filters.  
#6 Experiment with your searches. Use promising new terminology.  Try different search terms. Your search may become more sophisticated.