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LAWS-4003 - Capstone

Develop a Search Strategy

Your search strategy can (and will!) change over time as you learn more about your topic and as you explore each new database or source. Writing down your search strategy can not only help you plan how to conduct your search, but it can also help you remember what searches you have already tried and understand how to change your search in the future.

Your search strategy should start with a brainstorm of the keywords you may use in your search. You may also want to identify the different databases or sources you expect to use.

Describing Your Search Strategy

It can be difficult to know how to describe your search process, especially when it can change as you go. The best strategy for writing this section of your Capstone project is to write notes to yourself as you search. Some questions to ask yourself include:

  • Why did I decide to search in this specific database?
  • Why did I change a keyword?
  • What filter did I use and why?
  • Is there something I can change about my search to get more relevant results?

Every time you add, remove, or change the way you search (including keywords and filters) you should be able to explain

  1. why you made that change, and
  2. how that change affected your results.

You can use a table to show this decision-making process and keep track of the number of results you get with each change.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion and exclusion criteria are the rules that help you decide which articles or sources you will use in your research. Your criteria may be a mix of restrictions set by your instructor as well as criteria based on the limitations set in your research question. You should be able to explain why you chose to include (or exclude) any of the articles you used in your research.

Databases

A database is any organized collection of information or data. The JIBC Library “Search Me” box is an example of a database, but that is not the only place to search for library resources. Not all library resources are available from the “Search Me” box.

Searching in a subject-specific database can give you more tailored results because the contents within that database are related to only one topic. This is the difference between shopping in a department store—which may sell different kinds of clothing, shoes, home goods, and furniture (for example, Hudson’s Bay)—and shopping in a specialty store—which may sell a limited selection of items or cater to a specific audience (for example, Nike).

Similarly, many source types are not represented in general databases. If you are looking for statistics, case law and legislation, datasets, and reports, you may need to look elsewhere.

See the list of resources on this page to find recommended resources organized by source type.

Evaluation

As you select articles for your research, make sure to evaluate the reliability, accuracy, and validity of the information. You should be able to describe how each article you select meets your standards for this project.

Questions to answer at this stage might include:

  • Does this article meet the assignment instructions?
  • Do I trust the source of this information (author and publisher)?
  • Do I suspect any bias in the research design, data collection, analysis, or results?
  • Can I find a better source for this information?