Break your topic down into its basic parts
Identify Main Concepts
Write down your research question and underline the main ideas. Those are the key concepts you need to search. Consider ways of combining these terms to make sure the sources you find are relevant to your specific question.
Example: How does aging affect memory loss?
List Keywords
For each concept, make a list of keywords related to it. Use synonyms and any specialized terms you found in your background research. Try searching variations of your keywords to see which searches are finding the most relevant results.
Example: aging, elderly, seniors, growing older, senescent, geriatric...
Library resources for developing a search strategy
Searching for a term in AccessScience will give you a definition for that term. Pay attention to the related article suggestions for additional terms that are relevant to your original search.
Primary Sources
Primary sources are the results of original research and evidence gathered by the authors. These are the first publication of new discoveries and include analysis and interpretation of data collected by the authors.
Includes: journal articles, conference proceedings, technical reports, theses/dissertations
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources describe, interpret, or analyze information obtained from other sources. These often summarize the existing state of knowledge in a field or on a topic or compare different ideas and theories.
Includes: books, textbooks, review articles
Tertiary Sources
Tertiary sources summarize or condense a collection of primary and secondary sources, and will include references back to those sources. They present an introduction to the current state of research on a topic.
Includes: textbooks, encyclopedias, handbooks, bibliographies
For a more detailed description and additional examples of these categories, see the AccessScience article on Literature of science and technology.
​AccessScience is a great resource for background information- but don't stop there! Articles and briefings are citable sources of secondary literature, and also contain links to related primary literature to jumpstart your exploration of original research. Use the section at the bottom of articles and briefings to link out to external sources. These references are carefully selected to represent new advances in the field and provide an overview of new developments and discoveries.