Develop a Search Strategy

Thinking about what your information needs are before beginning your research will save you time and frustration later on.

Refer to your assignment, text books or encyclopedias to get some ideas for possible topics.
Think about what your end product will be. Will you be giving short answers, writing a research paper, presenting in front of the class? Will you need to gather pictures, graphs, or maps to support your presentation?
Who is your audience and what is their level of expertise on this topic? What is your level of expertise on this topic? If you or your audience is new to the topic, you will want to use less technical information.
Define your topic by phrasing it as a question or thesis statement.
Think of one or two additional related questions.
Circle the most important words in your statements. You are building a bank of keywords to use when searching.
Think of alternative terms or variations of these keywords. Try these if you are not finding what you want. A thesaurus can help with this.