• What is the main idea?
• What kind of research has been done on this topic?
• What do I need to learn more about?
• What language or special terms do people use to describe this topic?
• Do I know what all of this language means? (if no – look it up)
• Is there current research on my topic?
• Is this topic still under discussion?
• Is there enough here for me to keep going?

None or few relevant results? Go broader

1. Think of the broader category your research ideas are situated in
2. Be willing to read articles that don't match your research question exactly

Too many results? Go narrower

1. Use the refining tools in the search tool to narrow by topic, date, or study type.
2. Add in more keywords to your search
3. Look for patterns in the search results to see which articles most closely match your ideas.

Here are some tricks of the trade to make your searches more effective (these work in most databases):

• Use quotes to search for an exact phrase or name
• Use an asterisk with word roots to expand beyond an exact word

Searching in Google? Try these tricks:

• Search for a specific file type - filetype:pdf
• Search within a particular website - site:nytimes.com
• Look for related words with a ~

From: Hack College, Get More Out of Google