- Video: The Research Strategy - Identifying the Search Terms
This video walks you through the first 2 steps of the Research Strategy Process - breaking down the question into topic parts and identifying search terms.
- The Research Strategy - identifying the search terms
This is the slides of the above video
- Mindmeister Online Mapping Tool
Mindmeister is an online, collaborative mind-mapping tool available for all staff and students at Edith Cowan University. Interested? Click on the link and follow the instructions to download the software and get mind mapping. Remember to sign up using your ECU student email address. - MINDMUP
An alternative to MIndMeister, this free online Mind Mapping tool allows unlimited numbers of maps and no account/login is required.
Searching Tips
1. Break your topic into concepts.
e.g. The effect of diet on a person's health: Concept = Diet Concept = Health
2. Consider alternative keywords:
diet, nutrition health, wellbeing
3. Use truncation to search for variations of words: infan* (infants, infantile, infancy) child* (child, children, childhood)
4. Use AND to narrow the search:
diet AND health nurs* AND best practice
5. Use OR to broaden the search:
diet OR nutrition child* OR infan* OR toddler
6. Use inverted comas for phrases:
" pulmonary embolism" " evidence based nursing"
7. Beware of differences between English and American spelling and terminology (Use both spellings with OR):
foetal/fetal caesarean/cesarean haemorrhage/hemorrhage