Plan your search strategy

You've got your assignment topic. Now what do you do?

Follow the steps below to plan your research strategy.

1. Understand the question

The first step to research is to understand the question you have been asked.

Read the question and criteria sheet carefully. This will show you the areas you will be graded on.

Highlight the key words and action words in your question

2. Brainstorm

Take a couple of minutes to brainstorm the question you have been asked.
Write down:

everything you know (or think you know) about your research question
what you need to find out
any questions you might have about the topic

This will help you clarify the question, and show you the areas you understand and don’t understand and identify what you will and won’t focus on in your research.

3. Identify key terms

By breaking down your research question into its key terms, you can identify what you are being asked to do. Don’t forget to list word variations and plurals.

4. Find synonyms

Once you identify your key terms, look for synonyms (other words with a similar meaning that you can use in your search).

You can use http://www.thesaurus.com/ to come up with some ideas.

5. Identify missing key terms

Write down the missing words in your question. These might be words about your topic that are not directly mentioned in the question.

6. Plan your search

If you are using a book, think of what terms you might find in the index or table of contents.

If you are using Google, think of the keywords you might find on the website.

See the Google search tips page on BHSLibraryOnline.com for tips to develop your search strategy.

Don't ask Google questions!
Google scans websites for all the words typed into the search bar.

Instead of asking Google a question, think about how the answer would be phrased and search for that.