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Developing a Research Strategy
Build a Keyword Search - Boolean Search Using OR
In Brainstorm
Search Terms, you expanded your list of concepts to include synonyms. You can include these synonyms in your searches by using the term
OR. The inclusion of synonyms increases the number of results you retrieve.
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| OR is a special term that tells databases
to look for synonyms of your search terms. |
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Keyword Builder Demonstration Using OR
Using the research question "How does having a job affect a college student's grades?", break down the research question as follows:
concept 1: job; synonyms: employment, work
concept 2: grades; synonyms: g.p.a., achievement
KEYWORD
BUILDER
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Use the NCSU Libraries Keyword Builder
to see how synonyms can be combined using OR.
- Click on the Keyword Builder to the left.
- Clear the top row of the Keyword Builder.
- Enter "job"
and "employment"
under concept 1.
- Enter "grades" and "g.p.a." under concept 2.
- Click "create search."
Notice
how these terms are combined into a search string.
Note: The keyword builder combines synonyms into one set using the connector
OR, and the two separate concepts are combined using the connector AND. Using AND and OR will instruct the database to retrieve everything with either term for concept 1 that also includes either term for
concept 2.
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