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Here are a few tips to help you develop a good search strategy:
A good thesis statement starts with a GREAT QUESTION(S).
Question: I want to know how binge-watching episodes (via streaming platforms) has or is affecting sleep health within adults
1. Use two or three keywords rather than a complete sentence. Example:
KEYWORDS: binge-watching, steaming or tv or episodes, sleep health, fatigue, sleep and age, Sleep Deprivation, fear-of-missing-out (FoMO)
Example Research String: sleep health AND adults AND binge-watching
2. Use quotation marks when you want to search for a phrase. Example:
"social media" or “cognitive psychology”
3. Too few or poor results? Use synonyms and related terms to find different results. Example:
"insomnia" in place of "sleeplessness"
Example Research String: (sleeplessness OR "sleep deprivation") AND adults AND (binge-watching OR streaming)
Truncation symbol, [an asterisk (*), dollar sign ($), or plus sign (+), etc.], with the root/stem of a word broadens your search to include various wording endings:
child*=child or children or childhood
Wildcard symbol may also be used to replace a single character to include different spellings:
wom?n for women or woman
Databases use different symbols so check the searching help.
Maximize your search by combining these tools:
AND is used to connect two or more keywords using Boolean logic. They are also known as Boolean operators.
Use AND to connect keywords that you think there is a relationship between, or are associated, such as "income AND education", or "gender AND salary". It also reduces the number of results.
Use AND in a search to:
The purple triangle in the middle of the Venn diagram below represents the result set for this search. It is a small set using AND, the combination of all three search words.
Be aware: In many, but not all, databases, the AND is implied.
Use OR in a search to:
All three circles represent the result set for this search. It is a big set because any of those words are valid using the OR operator.
Use NOT in a search to: