Imagine the title of an article or two related to your
subject and search for terms within those titles
Think of terms to avoid
2. Select the most appropriate databases
For thorough research, use
ERIC and other databases found at the
Education Resources subject page.
Remember, by using the Murphy Library version of ERIC
and other databases, you can benefit from our GetText
network of internal links to full text. You will not get
these benefits by searching free internet versions of these
databases.
For additional, broader research use some of the
databases found at the
Most Popular Databases page.
3. Try a variety of searches
Expect to do many searches; hope some of them find
relevant results
If you find too much, narrow your search using some of
the following:
A. Try using "and" to find focused results. Example: math
and anxiety and girls
B. Limit by date, language, type of publication, etc.
C. Search for more specific topics
If you find too few results, try the following
A. Simplify your search—use few, simple terms
B. Use broader terms
C. Try a variety of databases
D. Increase the date range being searched
E. Search the “full text” if available
Include synonyms in your searches, putting parentheses
around synonyms. Example: (mainstreaming or inclusion)
and special education
Look for clickable subject headings, which find all
articles that have been labeled as relating to that subject
heading.
4. Look for the full text of your articles
When you find a citation to an article, look for a link
to full text.
Most UW-L databases are cross linked, allowing you to
find the full text of an article in another database without
doing a separate search. Look for the GetTeXt icon for this
functionality.
Enter the name of a specific periodical in the
Periodicals Holdings List. This may lead you to the full
text of the periodical in one of the many full text
databases at Murphy Library.