Keep track of your search and your results. Remember research is a process and you may try many things before you find what works best for your topic.
Keep track of your search terms and jot down other words you find while perusing the articles that result from your searches.
The "search history" option under the search box can also help with that.
Email, print, or save articles that might be useful for your research, even if you're not sure that you're going to use them.
If your topic is:
Does mental health stigma deter college students from seeking treatment?
1) Identify keywords or phrases:
mental health stigma college students treatment
2) Explore synonyms for your keywords/phrases:
Mental health: well being, psychological health, mental illness, depression, anxiety, stress
Stigma: attitudes, perceptions, values, stereotypes
College students: university students, undergraduates, freshmen, higher education
Treatment: counseling, intervention, therapy
3) Use these terms in your search. Combine the synonyms with the word "or".
For example: mental health OR mental illness OR psychological health OR depression
4) If you need help developing keyword searches, use of the Subject Headings function (located on the top left navigation bar in EBSCO). It's very useful to help you find appropriate subject headings for your topic.
Remember to search in the Advanced Search mode.
Enter your 1st keyword(s)/phrase(s) in the first line (here mental health).
Your second concept in our example is college students. Enter that key phrase and any synonyms in the second line of the search box. Your search results should then include both concepts somewhere in the record.
You can add as many concepts as you like! Click on the + symbol under the green Search button to get another row of search boxes.
Once you have collected some articles, take a closer look at them.
Read and review what you have. Do you have enough information to support your topic?
If you don't like what you have or you don't have enough good information, go back to your search. Try some new keywords or a different database.
Explore some of the subject headings from the articles that you do want to use.
If some of your articles have bibliographies you might want to look at some of the sources listed in those bibliographies.
If you're stuck -- ask a librarian for help.
Reading these sections of an article/book will help you determine if the item you're looking at is relevant to your research.
