At this stage, you may have already begun doing some searching to gather background information and to test out your topic. With your research question, you can begin more focused searching to find sources you need to help answer it.
You may employ many different search techniques and types in order to locate all the information you need. With keyword searching, you can use many different tools Boolean Operators and Nesting, Phrase Searching and Truncation. You also have additional search options with Field searching and Subject searching. You should also consider which search tools are most likely to have the material you need.
Sometimes you need to revise how you search based on your results. These changes will help better retrieve the information you need. It’s common to revise your search strategy many times as you learn more and adjust your focus or research question.
Video Length: About 3 minutes (2:47)
Video Credit: Norwich University - Kreitzberg Library. “Research is a Process: Refining and Broadening.” YouTube, uploaded by norwichlibrary. 10 Aug. 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1PFqMkwe3M. Used under CC-BY license. Accessed 30 July 2018.
Just as important is taking the time to evaluate your sources. Most people check whether a source mentions their topic, which is a good first step. To make sure the chosen sources best match your information need and have high quality, though, you will need to look at them more closely. There are many different forms of evaluation which can be helpful:
ACCORD model (Critical Thinking)