HU 3900: Beyond the Human: Search Tips

Because every topic of discipline has its own jargon, coming up with lists of keywords will be an integral part of your search process. There are a few different ways to find the most relevant keywords to use in your search, but the first step is to consider your research topic and start there:

Take your research topic and break it down into different concepts.

• Example research topic: the ethics of human enhancement technologies being available to only a privileged few
• Example concepts: 
  • ethics
  • human enhancement technology
  • privilege 

Next steps:

• Try and come up with a list of synonyms or other related terms for each concept.
  • For example:
    • ethics OR fairness OR justice
    • privilege OR status
• This is a good time to start doing general background research on your topic to help find these words. Start on Google, or try an online encyclopedia. Look for related concepts and keywords. Please note that academic papers typically do not cite encyclopedias. Instead, these are useful resources for helping you to find ideas for your research. 
• Once you gather some general information on your research topic, move on to more scholarly sources such as journal articles, books, and book chapters, which you can find in places like the WPI Library Search, Google Scholar, and Library Subject-Specific databases. These sources will often contain (whether in the abstract or full-text) additional helpful keywords you can use to expand your search.

Use these search terms to narrow or broaden your search. These search terms work in WPI Library Search and in most of the library's databases. 

• Identify your topic’s key concepts. Do some background research in online encyclopedias. These are not sources that you will cite in your paper but they can provide useful information to help you identify concepts and keywords related to your research topic.

• Brainstorm synonyms for your keywords: Search for synonyms for your keywords and concepts to increase the number of relevant search results.

• In database search results, look at the article titles and abstracts in your search results to find additional keywords to search for.

• Read! The more you read about your topic, the more you'll pick up on the jargon used in that field, which will help you to refine your searches and find relevant sources faster.

2. Search filters

• When searching in databases, use search filters on the search results page to narrow down your search. Some of the most common filters are:
  • Publication Date
  • Source Format/Resource Type (book, journal, video, etc.)
  • Subject 
  • Peer-reviewed/Academic Journal

​​​​​​​3. Get the full text of a source:

• Some of the library's databases only provide abstracts for sources. Look for the FullTextFinder icon on the search results page. If you only have the summary/abstract of an article, click on the FullTextFinder to search all 200+ library databases for the full-text.

• Use Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Submit an ILL request to get full-text journal articles, books and book chapters that are not available through the Gordon Library. ILL is a service that allows you to request these materials, and library staff will try to get these materials for you from another library. 

4. Often finding one helpful source can lead you to more:

• Check bibliographies for additional relevant sources.

• Some databases provide “cited by” links for articles - these links help you find sources that have cited an article and built on the authors' research.

• Some databases provide “related articles” links to connect you to articles on similar topics. 

5. Evaluate your sources

• What are the author’s credentials?

• What is the reputation of the organization behind the source?

• When was the source published?

• How did the authors gather their information? ​​​​​​​

Questions? Ask a librarian!  

Librarians are here to help you with your research. Reach out to the library via chat, email, or by requesting a research consultation: https://libguides.wpi.edu/AskUs