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ITI672: Social Emotional Learning in Action: Developing Effective Searches

Developing Effective Database Searches

How to Focus the Search

Adding another concept to the search will make it more specific. Use search terms that represent another facet your research topic, such as a person, place or thing:

Population characteristic gifted, second language learner, deaf and hard of hearing, cultural group, ethnicity, etc.
Population group boys, girls, males, females, children, adolescents, teens, teenagers, youth, etc.
Subject area science, mathematics, reading, etc.
Grade level preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, etc.
Location or setting classroom, school, home, community, United States, etc.

You might also consider using search terms that reflect possible outcomes such as student attitudes, student motivation, achievement, or rubrics.

Use of peer-review will limit results to scholarly, evidence-based articles.  It will also eliminate all ERIC Documents (ED#s) from the results list.

Create a Search Statement

The Search Strategy Builder is a tool designed to help you create a search string using Boolean search operators. Input your search terms, click the button, and then copy and paste the results into a database search box (e.g., SmartSearch).

  Concept 1 and Concept 2 and Concept 3
Name your concepts here    
Search terms Search terms Search terms
List alternate terms for each concept.

These can be synonyms, or they can be specific examples of the concept.

Use single words, or "short phrases" in quotes

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

The Search Strategy Builder was developed by the University of Arizona Libraries and is used under a Creative Commons License.

Putting the Search Together

  • Go to the Advanced Search Screen and follow the model below.
  • In the first search box, enter a keyword or phrase that represents a central idea from your research topic.
  • In the second search box, enter a keyword or phrase that represents a subtopic.

  • To narrow your topic, add additional search boxes to experiment with other key ideas.

Example:

  • Big idea student development
  • Focus on major subtopic teacher role
  • Narrow focus to issue or problem compassion or empathy


Search String:

DE "student development" AND ( teach* OR learn* ) AND ( compassion OR empathy OR kindness OR caring )

Need a Primary Research Study?

Try searching with research terms. Set the database to look for your keywords in the Abstract or Summary. While this doesn't guarantee that every search result will contain a primary research study, it will help eliminate other kinds of articles. See Recognize Research Articles for more information on how to identify primary research.

Example:

  • Big idea emotional development
  • Focus on major subtopic family or parental impact
  • Narrow focus to research or study: action research

 

Search String:

emotional development AND ( family OR families OR parent* OR sibling* ) AND AB action research 

Helpful Handouts and Videos

Search Tips and Examples

ITI672 Week 2: 

This week, you will choose two new articles from the library databases on a social-emotional learning topic of interest to you. These articles should have been written within the last 5-8 years. 

ITI672 Week 4: 

For this assignment, you will research an evidence-based SEL intervention. You may choose the level: individual, classroom, school, or family and select an intervention that targets one or more of the core competencies or related competencies discussed in ITI670.

Use the searches on the following tabs to help you begin finding articles. Add or remove search terms to help target your individual research needs. These examples use EBSCO's education databases. You can try similar searches in ProQuest or Smart Search.