Developing a Search Strategy

1. Once you have chosen a topic, write it down in the form of a question or brief statement:
   

   What is the relationship between SAT scores and college success?

2. Underline the key words and phrases that are most specific to your topic.
   

   What is the relationship between SAT scores and college success?

3. Write down each key word or phrase, and underneath it, list synonyms or related terms. Use a dictionary or thesaurus to find additional keywords. For example:
   

   SAT scholastic aptitude test

   college university

   success achievement

4. Think about the singular, plural, and other endings of  words and write down the root of the word.
    

   SAT scholastic aptitude test

   college, colleges -- college university, universities -- universit

   success, successful, succeed -- succe achievement, achieve, achiever -- achieve

5. Write down your key words and phrases along with their synonyms in the form of a Boolean search statement. Use the root word, and truncate it with an asterisk (*). Note: Different databases use different truncation or wildcard symbols. Check the database's help page. For example:

   (SAT or scholastic aptitude test) and (college* or universit*) and (succe* or achieve*)