Marketing & the Arts

Research Tips:

• Break your research topic/question into keywords.
• Many databases use specific terms to label documents. Use the "official" database terms for best results with their thesaurus or use subject headings)
• Combine your keywords/search terms with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).
• If you are getting too many articles or the information is too general add “AND”s to get more precise.
• If you are getting too few or too specific, unrelated articles, try thinking of synonyms to your keywords for “OR”s or try taking out some of your “AND”s.
• Use parentheses with your terms and Boolean operators to build your search phrase.
• exp. (cat OR kitten) AND (wild OR feral OR homeless)
• Determine your conditions (such as publication year, document type or Peer Reviewed) and apply them to your search as limits or filters.
• Use quotation marks (“ ”) around phrases to keep words together. Use this for an exact quote, phrase or order of the search term. exp. "latin america"
• Use asterisks (*) to “fill-in-the-blank” at the end of a word (this is called truncation). The asterisk will be replaced by any applicable letters.
• You can use asterisks as a shortcut for OR-ing words that have identical roots. exp. paint* will search for paint, painting, painters, painterly, etc.

Remember to check your images, wherever you find them, for permissions and limitations of use.  Always check for copyright information and be sure to cite your sources as best you can! Part of using images properly, is writing strongly and clearly about them in your work.  Use the resources below for guidelines in writing clearly using images as well as links on fair use and using images responsibly.