Transcript: Riley

For me, finding sources can be one of the hardest parts about my research process. I’ll often struggle to find a source that is specific towards my topic and that is typically because my searches are not specific enough.

I had never heard of the term precision searching before coming to OSU. After reading this chapter and putting it into practice with my papers, it almost seemed like second nature to conduct my research through precision searching.

Sometimes I like to write my research question down on a piece of paper and either highlight or underline the main concepts. Then I make a list of alternative and related terms to the main concepts so I that I can keep track of the different search terms I can use.

Another super-important thing in this chapter are search statements. I had no idea how to use the symbols like question mark and asterisk to help advance my searching.
I found it helpful to write down what the quotation marks, question mark, parentheses, and exclamation marks are used for on a sticky note, so I that have easy access to them when I write my future papers.