MPA 698S: Graduate Project

To get more results, broaden your search.

• Use fewer search terms. Look for words not unique to your topic that you could cut from your search string.
• OR Use OR to link synonyms, so you get articles where the authors used other terms to describe the same concept. 
  • (gun OR firearm)
  • (city OR municipal)
• * Use an asterisk to find articles using any of the variants of the same root word.
  • administrat* = administration, administrative, administrator, administrations
• Combine these techniques
  • (homeless* OR unhoused)
  • (youth OR teen* OR adolescen*)
• Use more inclusive search terms.
  • Bigger locations - too few results from los angeles, try california
  • More general terms - too few results from senate, try congress
• Search as many possible sources at once by using Google Scholar.

To get fewer results, narrow your search.

• " " Use quotation marks to find exact phrases, when you need words next to each other in precise sequence to have the meaning you intend.
  • "measure h"
  • "transformational leadership"
• Use NOT to eliminate irrelevant meanings of your keywords, or irrelevant approaches
  • covid NOT leukocytes
• Add more concepts to your search. Consider the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
• Use narrower, more specific concepts or aspects of your original topic.
  • policy => statute
    policy => regulation