Skip to Main Content

HRMN 495: Contemporary Issues in Human Resource Management Practice

Search Tips for Human Resource Management

Searching Basics

4 simple steps for effective database searching:

  1. Start with a Basic Search

First formulate a research question:  What are some techniques for managing employee retention? Then think about the main ideas in your question and create a search statement using those ideas or concepts:

managing AND techniques AND "employee retention"

 

2. Expand Your Search Using OR 

Use OR to include additional, related keywords:

managing AND (techniques OR approaches OR methods) AND "employee retention"

 

3. Expand Your Search Using Truncation

Many databases allow you to use "*" (an asterisk) to truncate a term. Truncating allows you to search for all variations of a word using a single search. In this example, manag* will find manage, management, managers, etc.:

manag* AND (techniques OR approaches OR methods) AND "employee retention"

 

4. Exclude Words With NOT

NOT lets you exclude words from your search to remove unhelpful articles from your results:

manag* AND (techniques OR approaches OR methods) AND "employee retention" NOT "small businesses"

 

Locate and Evaluate Scholarly Articles

https://libguides.umgc.edu/articles

Scholarly articles defined; using the library to find scholarly articles; evaluating an article based on its citation; locating full text articles; evaluating a full text article