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ENGL 003 - Reading III - Nahf

Find a good Topic Starting Point

🛑 Too Big

If you have too many matches, it can be hard to tell what you're looking at and even harder to tell if something is what you need. You will know your topic is too broad if...

  • you are having difficulty finding similar ideas in the results.
  • there are a lot of subtopics within the concept.
  • there is a book with that title.

Example that is too broad: Marine Conservation

✅ Just Right

Look at what you can make either more specific or less specific in order to land on a topic that is just right. You'll know your topic is just right if...

  • you readily find information that matches your ideas.
  • you can see the connection between the resource and your interest.
  • you feel like you'll be able to write enough without stretching it or editing it down too much.

An example of a topic that is just right: Coral Reef conservation in the Caribbean.

🛑 Too Small

It can be easy to get so specific that your topic either doesn't exist (yet) or your words show up in your results but not in a useful way.

  • you get no (or only a few) results in the databases. 
  • what you are looking at is either not at all what you were looking for or seems to be talked about only within a different context.
  • you can't seem to find anything to support your ideas.

An example that is too narrow: Captive lionfish breeding

Identify Keywords

In what ways do humans contribute to the destruction and conservation of the Caribbean coral reef?

By identifying key concepts and what other words or phrases describe those concepts you will get more meaningful results. With the question "In what ways do humans contribute to the destruction and conservation of the Caribbean coral reef?" the keywords/phrases are human, destruction, conservation, and Caribbean coral reef. Here is an example of what words could be used instead:

Original Phrase Related words or ideas
humans human-caused, anthropogenic, people
destruction threats, damage, degradation, kill, decline
conservation preservation, protection, recovery, restoration
Caribbean coral reef West Indies, Caribbean Sea, Antilles, Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System

Combining Keywords

overlapping circles with the area that overlaps highlighted to indicate that the word and applies to the overlap

AND

Searches for places where both keywords appear together. This is the default for all databases, so you don't really need to type the word.

overlapping circles with the entire area of both circles highlighted to indicate that the word or applies to the everything

OR

Searches for either of the keywords. They might be together or they might not.

overlapping circles with one circle but not the part that overlaps is highlighted to indicate that the word not applies to only the area without the other circle

NOT

Searches for places where the first keyword appears without the second.

Examples of NOT

Be careful when using NOT in your keyword search; this can sometimes cause good items to be excluded from your results.