LibGuides: Anthropology: Planning Your Research

The Research Process

Planning Your Research

	PLANNING YOUR RESEARCH
TOPIC EXAMPLE	What is the archaeological evidence for the peopling of the Americas?
IDENTIFY KEYWORDS	Identify keywords from your topic and start your search. You can narrow down any topic by combining the keywords you have identified in your question. "archaeological evidence" AND peopling AND Americas
KEYWORD SYNONYMS	To come up with other keywords to help narrow or expand or refocus your search: Brainstorm alternate words or synonyms Looks for alternate or related keywords or synonyms or subject headings in applicable results.
	Your search results will typically have subject headings (similar to tags), author-selected keywords, and keywords in the abstract of the article that will help identify synonyms and expand your keyword bank.
	Keyword concept 1 "archaeological evidence" "archaeological record" archaeolog*	Keyword concept 2 peopling population	Keyword concept 3 Americas North America Canada
COMBINING KEYWORDS	Combine your keywords using the Boolean Operators AND, OR, and NOT.
	AND searches for resources that contain both of your keywords. "archaeological evidence" AND peopling	OR searches for resources with either or both of your keywords. peopling OR population	NOT searches for results with only your first keyword and hides results containing your second keyword. "north america" NOT "united states"
TIPS	Use quotation marks to search a TWO WORD concept such as: “archaeological evidence” ; “North America” *Use an at the root of a word to find alternate forms of the word:** Archaeolog* finds archaeology, archaeological, etc.