Education research topic examples - planning and preparing to search

Master of Teaching

University of Melbourne Library

Learning Objectives• Understand the importance of brainstorming

concepts prior to conducting a search• Understand the function of Boolean operators

and symbols • How to construct search statements using

Boolean operators and symbols• How to use simple and complex search

statements• How to access further support

Example topic 1

Excursions as a learning experience

Identify concepts

Excursions as a learning experience

Brainstorm search terms

About brainstorming • Consider: broader, narrower, related terms, think laterally • Possible sources for generating ideas:

– prior knowledge of topic– course materials– quick searching– thesaurii

• You may want to create a mind map• Organising the search terms will support more efficient and

systematic searching

Organise the potential search terms

Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4

Excursions Learning theories

Experiential learning

Primary education

Outdoor education

Learning strategies

Situated learning Elementary

school Outdoor activities

Learning experience primary

school

Concepts

Alternative terms

Consider the database capabilities as you to build your search statements

Function ExampleUse truncation to find alternative terms and broaden your search. * is a commonly used symbol

learn* will locate learns, learners and learning

Use quotation marks to locate exact phrases.

“outdoor education”

Proximity operators find words near each other. In this example, the search will find the terms if they are within five words of one another.

Excursion* N5 learning

Check the quick help page within the database to establish which symbols and functions apply in the search tool.

You will need to combine the keywords using Boolean operators to build a search statement to use

in the library databases

Boolean operator AND

Combining terms using AND narrows your search.

excursions AND learn*AND “primary school students”

Boolean operator OR Combining terms using OR broadens your search. Use OR to test alternative terms.

“outdoor education” OR “outdoor activities”

Boolean operator NOT

Combining terms using NOT to exclude a term.

excursion NOT camping

Get use into the habit of typing the Boolean operators in CAPITAL LETTERS as this is required in some databases.

Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4

Excursions Learning theories

Experiential learning

Primary education

Outdoor education

Learning strategies

Situated learning Elementary

school Outdoor activities

Learning experience

Experiential learning primary

school

Concepts within topic

Test alternative terms

Boolean Operator AND

Boolean Operator OR

“outdoor Education” learn*AND

Search results will contain both of the terms “outdoor education” and learn*

“outdoor education” excursionOR

Search results contains one, or both, of the phrases “outdoor education” and excursion.

excursion “school camp”NOT

Search results will contain the term/phrase excursion and omit results containing “school

camp”.

Putting it togetherPotential Search Statements

Broad statements are suitable for use in the Library Catalogue and scoping the relevance of a tool.

Complex statements are better suited for use in databases (e.g. Discovery, Web of Science, Medline).

• excursions AND (learning strategies OR learning experience)

• (“outdoor education” OR “outdoor activities”) AND (“learning theories” OR “learning strategies”) AND primary school

• “outdoor education” AND primary school

• ("experiential learning" OR "situated learning") AND outdoor education

Note the use of brackets

Nest alternative terms within brackets, when combining them with other essential keywords. This creates order within the search.

Example topic 2

Inquiry based learning strategies and contemporary approaches to teaching history in a primary school setting

Identify concepts

Inquiry based learning strategies and contemporary approaches to teaching history in a primary school setting

Brainstorm search terms

About brainstorming • Consider: broader, narrower, related terms, think laterally • Possible sources for generating ideas:

– prior knowledge of topic– course materials– quick searching– thesaurii

• You may want to create a mind map• Organising the search terms will support more efficient and

systematic searching

Organise the potential search terms

Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4

inquiry history teaching

Teach* method*

Primary education

inquiry based learning

history curriculum

approachElementaryschool

historical inquiry

humanities teaching

Case studyprimary school

experiential learning

Concepts

Alternative terms

Consider the database capabilities as you to build your search statements

Function ExampleUse truncation to find alternative terms and broaden your search. * is a commonly used symbol

method* will locate methods and methodology

Use quotation marks to locate exact phrases.

“inquiry based learning”

Proximity operators find words near each other. In this example, the search will find the terms if they are within five words of one another.

history N5 teaching

Check the quick help page within the database to establish which symbols and functions apply in the search tool.

You will need to combine the keywords using Boolean operators to build a search statement to use

in the library databases

Boolean operator AND

Combining terms using AND narrows your search.

“inquiry based learning” AND history

Boolean operator OR Combining terms using OR broadens your search. Use OR to test alternative terms.

“primary school” OR “elementary school”

Boolean operator NOT

Combining terms using NOT to exclude a term.

“Primary school” NOT “secondary school”

Get use into the habit of typing the Boolean operators in CAPITAL LETTERS as this is required in some databases.

Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4

inquiry history teaching

Teach* method*

Primary education

inquiry based learning

history curriculum

Approach Elementary school

historical inquiry

humanities teaching

Case studyPrimary school

experiential learning

Concepts within topic

Test alternative terms

Boolean Operator AND

Boolean Operator OR

Inquiry “history teaching”AND

Search results will contain both of the terms Inquiry and “history teaching”.

“Primary school”

“elementary school”OR

Search results contains one, or both, of the phrases “Primary school” and “elementary

school”.

“primary school”

“secondary school”NOT

Search results will contain the phrase “primary school” and omit results containing

“secondary school”.

Putting it togetherPotential Search Statements

Broad statements are suitable for use in the Library Catalogue and scoping the relevance of a tool.

Complex statements are better suited for use in databases (e.g. Discovery, Web of Science, Medline).

• history teaching AND teaching methods AND primary school

• (inquiry OR “inquiry based learning”) AND (history teaching OR history curriculum) AND primary education

• “inquiry based learning” AND history • experiential learning AND(history teaching OR humanities teaching OR history curriculum) AND Australia*

Note the use of brackets

Nest alternative terms within brackets, when combining them with other essential keywords. This creates order within the search.

Next Steps• Assess the type and amount of information

you need• Select a search tool/s• Test and evaluate your searches• Reflect on your success and make

improvements to your search strategies if required

Find the information you need

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