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ANTH 2020 Intro to Cultural Anthropology: Research Question ->
Search Strategy

Example Research Question

How do Hispanic immigrants maintain and/or adapt their sense of ethnic identity once in the United States?

Search Strategy Builder


Search Strategy Builder

The Search Strategy Builder is a tool designed to teach you how to create a search string using Boolean logic. While it is not a database and is not designed to input a search, you should be able to cut and paste the results into most databases’ search boxes.

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

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

or

Now copy and paste the above Search Strategy into a database search box.

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

Moving from a Research Question to a Search Strategy

Moving from a Research Question to an effective Search Strategy involves breaking down a Research Question into its Core Concepts, brainstorming Keywords, and then constructing an effective Search Strategy using Boolean operators, nesting, truncation, and phrase searching.  Below is an example - and then you can use the Search Strategy Builder for your own topic.

Now, I can copy and paste this Search Strategy into the database search field:

 

(multiracial* OR biracial* OR bicultural* OR multiethnic* OR multicultural*) AND identity

Subject Librarian

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Jason Puckett
he/him
Contact:
Library South (by appointment)
404-413-2720
Subjects: Anthropology

Research Question --> Search Strategy Worksheet

Here is a blank worksheet that you can use to break down your Research Question into its Core Concepts and then construct an effective Search Strategy using Boolean operators, nesting, truncation, and phrase searching.