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Critical Qualitative/Quantitative Inquiry Lab (C-QuIL)

This guide was created for use by graduate students in the School of Education and Human Sciences C-QuIL group.

Before You Begin

"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called Research." - Albert Einstein

In other words, be prepared for discomfort and a cyclical research process.

Utilize Keyword Synonyms & Advanced Search

Research isn't just about finding sources but finding the right sources. The keywords you use in your search can affect whether or not you find those right sources.

Keyword Help: Start with an EBSCO database, such as Academic Search Premier, SPORTDiscus, or ERIC. Unlike other databases that require manual input of keyword synonyms, EBSCO databases helpfully provide them for you and separate them with the Boolean operator OR (see below). Make note of these keywords for use in other databases.

 

To begin refining your search in order to find those right sources, add lines in an advanced search in order to search for more than one set of keywords simultaneously (see below).

 

The most basic function you will find in a database is Boolean Searching.  Boolean Searching uses AND, OR, & NOT to tell the machine how your keywords should function.

Imagine searching for a pet in a database of an animal shelter.  You might do something like this:

dog AND cat = for kids who want a miracle         

dog OR cat  = for those who aren't sure which pet or have no preference        

dog NOT cat = for those allergic to cats

Use the dropdown boxes beside keywords to further refine your search. One way to do so is to change where in the article you want the keyword to appear, such as author, title, journal name, abstract, or subject.

 

Refine your keywords further with these advanced techniques:

  • Truncation searches for all forms of a word, frequently using the asterisk*.
    • Ex. Educat* will return results with all words having the root “eduat,” such as education, educational, educators.
  • Quotation marks search for phrases.
    • Ex. “Special education” will force two words together, instead of having special in the title and education on p. 47.
  • Proximity searching puts words within a certain number of words of each other.
    • Ex. Home N10 Family in a search bar puts the words within 10 words of each other, in either direction.
  • Wildcards, usually using the question mark symbol ?, replace a single letter.
    • Ex. M?n = man, men