African American Studies

Use:

• Always capitalize Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) in your search statement.

• AND
  This strategy will narrow your search. 
• OR
  This strategy will broaden your search. Put words linked by OR inside parentheses ( ).
• Quotation marks " "
  Using quotation marks will ensure that the database finds results that use that exact phrase.
• Asterisk * 
  The * symbol tells the database to search for alternative word endings, for example: cultur* will search for culture, cultures, cultural

How do I choose keywords for my searches?

• Words to include
  When you choose keywords for your search, you would want to include just the main ideas of your research question

Research question: How has the African American culture evolved throughout history?

Using just the main ideas, a search on this topic might look like this:

• Use quotation marks
  If any of your search terms are phrases longer than one word, like "African American," you can optimize your search by putting quotation marks around them. Using quotation marks will ensure that the database finds results that use that exact phrase.  
• Use AND
  To search for multiple concepts at the same time, you need to link your search terms with AND. This strategy will narrow your search. 

Found too many results?

• Add more keywords

If you find that you are retrieving too many results, try adding more keywords to further narrow your topic.

Found too few results?

• If you are searching for a really specific topic, you might not find enough information. In this case, you can try broadening your search by using fewer search terms, or by using or to add synonyms for your current search terms. If you link synonyms with OR, make sure to put them inside parentheses.  

You can review your searching skills with our Database Searching Basics guide and this UMGC Library Webinar on Boolean Searching.