In this section, you will be identifying search terms for your topic and formulating them into a search statement.  During this process, it is important to think critically.   Let's say that you are interested in the topic of caring for adolescents with diabetes.  You will be able to find plenty of journal articles on that specific topic by searching in an electronic database and using all of the terms care, adolescents and diabetes.  However, if you are also looking for books on that same topic, you might have to adjust your search strategy.  The library may not own many books that are entirely about caring for adolescents with diabetes.  But there will be many books about diabetes, and any one of them might have a chapter about caring for adolescents with diabetes.  So when you search the library catalog, you might use just the term diabetes.  If you find too many books on diabetes, you might refine your search by using the terms diabetes and care.  Once you have located the books on diabetes care, you can look at the tables of contents and indexes in those books to see which ones contain information on caring specifically for adolescents.

As you will see in the following screens, there are many ways to make your literature search more effective.  But there is never just one right way.  And no matter how good you get, searching is always an iterative process.  Just remember to think critically! 

Next: B. Identify your search terms