Formulate a research question
Find 2-3 articles on your topic
This allows you to see if your topic has been studied
This will help you identify terms for your search
Identify terms for your search
think of terms broadly (example- if you want information about librarians - you may need to search "information specialist", "information scientist", informationist, etc.
Identify databases
This will depend on your question - ask your librarian for recommendations.
Do search of a library database
not familiar with how to search? Let your librarian help you.
use AND for different concepts- will narrow your search
use OR for similar concepts - will broaden your search
Use inclusion/exclusion criteria to the articles you found
examples of exclusion could be: non-English, wrong population, wrong type of study, etc.
Use Citation Harvesting for other articles
also called citation searching - use Web of Science or SCOPUS for this- this will identify both the references and any work that has cited the paper of interest. Often when a paper has been cited it is related.
Use a citation manager
SLU provides EndNote (see https://libguides.slu.edu/EndNote)
citation managers will let you organize the papers you find
citation managers will also help you format citations in several styles
Synthesize your findings