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Check out the following Credo Information Literacy Tutorials for more search tips.
Using Phrases: If any of your search terms are a phrase rather than a single word, you can enclose them in quotation marks to link them together in your query.
impact AND "Railroad Retirement Act "
This way the databases knows to look for results where the words "railroad", "retirement", and "act" are together and will treat the phrase as a single term.
Finding credible sources involves using effective search techniques and tools. This page contains tips for developing effective searches and covers:
OneSearch is a great tool to get a general idea of what is available about a topic and try out some key terms. It searches for everything from books to articles, so you will need to pay attention to resource type when searching. Using Advanced Search, you are able to filter resource type prior to completing a search or you can use the Filter your result side bar on the results page.
If you sign in to your library account using your MyLeo credentials, you can save searches or pin chosen results to your favorites. This will allow you to return to your search were you left off and will keep a record of the terms you used, so you can use them in other databases.
When deciding on search terms start with a topic sentence or question and use the key ideas for your starting terms. From there you can find variations and synonyms to build your search.
Example: How do social welfare policies impact the mental health of low-income families
From this example a few starting terms could be:
Keep in mind, while terminology may have changed over time, historical documents will retain original terms.
If you already know what topic you want to research and a few key terms to begin your searching process, using a database can be an efficient way to find resources. You are able use the same skills you use with OneSearch in most of the database the library offers. A few databases have been highlighted as potentially useful for this course and can be found in the Suggested Databases box.
More databases and their descriptions can be accessed from our A-Z List using the following steps:
If you are off campus, you will be asked to log in with your MyLeo credentials.
Consider your specific topic of interest related to social welfare policy and determine if other subject-specific databases fit your topic.
For instance, if you're looking at public education policies, such as No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 an Education database would be a good fit.
Explore our subject specific databases or reach out to the library via Ask a Librarian for support.
Explore our short list of publicly accessible resources for social welfare policy research, designed to provide free, comprehensive insights and support.
