Search Strategies
Search tips: (please note that these tips and strategies will work best with the databases and resources provided)
1. The first step to a successful search is finding key terms related to your topic.
- For example, some search topics/key phrases I utilized were:
- SEL
- social-emotional learning
- elementary school classroom
- children's literature
2. Next, it is highly efficient to use effective search strategies such as the following
- Boolean operators such as AND, OR, and NOT when searching for resources.
- Using AND between each keyword will help narrow the search
- In most cases, the operator AND can be added manually or under an Advanced Search
- Use OR when searching similar terms
- Example: sel AND social-emotional learning
3. Putting phrases in quotation marks can help the search filter for more specific sources.
- For example, search "elementary school classroom" to ensure that your search results are specifically related to the "elementary school classroom" and not the school or secondary classrooms.
- Quotation marks help the search yield exact phrases.
4. Using a truncated search, you can search for multiple spellings of a word or numerous phrases with the same beginning:
- literat* = literature, literary
- child* = children, child
- emotion*= emotion, emotional
- socia* = social, socialization, socially
5. Lastly, always remember to filter your search using the "tweak your results" section on the library's site or the “filter” or “refine” option in other databases. From there, you can change your results by adjusting the availability, resource type, publication date, subject, and more.
Some search strategies and terms I found beneficial when conducting research for this guide are the following:
- "social-emotional learning in education"
- "social-emotional learning" OR "SEL"
- "Social-emotional learning" AND "children's literature"
- "SEL" AND "children's literature"
- "SEL" AND "children's literature" AND "classroom"