Before beginning your search for literature or information, it's important to first define precisely what you are looking for. Hazardly beginning a search does not often result in reliable results, or at least not quickly. Formulating a good problem definition first will save you a considerable amount of work. It will allow you to conduct a more targeted search. What information are you looking for precisely? What would you like to know? Are you looking for general information on your subject or are you dividing your research into subtopics?
Using the questions below, you can formulate a specific and clear-cut assignment or problem definition.
The biggest problem encountered when conducting research is not receiving too little information. Typically, you end up with so much information that you stray from your original research task. That is why it's wise to ask a key question when conducting research. Your research should provide an answer to this question.
Try using this key question to formulate a number of sub-questions that support the main question to be answered.
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You can extract your search terms from your problem definition. The search terms form the basis for the searches. The trick is to use as few search terms as possible to find the most relevant publications possible, while receiving as few as possible irrelevant publications.
To find appropriate search terms, it is best to read around your subject. Consult for that reference books, newspapers, (online) encyclopedias, as well as general and specialist dictionaries. Also consider who or what are the most important authors or organizations concerning your topic? While keeping this basic information in mind, you can create the search terms.
Different relations exist within a search term:
| Abbreviations | Abbreviations of terms that to have to do with your subject, such as SDG |
| Synonyms | Another word with the same, or nearly the same, meaning, such as car/auto |
| Translations | It may be useful to use translations of your search terms. Also think of the difference between British English (behaviour) and American English (behavior) and consider the Latin names |
| Singular or plural | Keep this in mind when formulating your search query, e.g. woman/women |
| Narrower term | Has a relation to the search term, but it has a more limited meaning, e.g. tsunami as NT of natural disaster |
| Broader term | Has a relationship to the search term, but it has a wider meaning, e.g. disaster as BT of natural disaster |
| Related term | Is related to the search term within the context of your subject, e.g. evacuation as RT of natural disaster |
If you complete your initial search terms of your problem definition with translations, synonyms, broader terms, narrower terms, etc., you will generate a good set of search terms.