How to Transform a Search Topic into a Search Strategy:

Clinical Mental Health Counseling & School Counseling

 

Write down your search topic as a statement, hypothesis, question, or phrase:

What is the significance of the trend of providing counseling services to clients at a distance utilizing communication technologies such as mobile phones, e-mail, Internet/networked computers, teleconferencing technologies, etc.

Now break down your topic statement into separate main concepts (the number of concepts will vary):

CONCEPT #1: counseling services

CONCEPT #2: communication technologies

(CONCEPT #3: distance--not necessary as separate term; meaning implied in Concept #2)

Search for your main concepts using the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms (in the PsycINFO database) and/or the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors found in the ERIC database.  Terms included in the thesauri are called “controlled vocabulary.”  For each concept, identify associated terms and subject headings (called “descriptors” in the ERIC system).   Terms in current use will have a “scope note” or definition. 

 CONCEPT #1: counseling; psychotherapy

CONCEPT #2:cellular phones; technology; internet; computer mediated communication

CONCEPT #3: ---

Next, brainstorm on your topic and write down any other words or phrases (called “uncontrolled vocabulary”) that you can think of or have identified in the education literature.  This is especially important to do for new, very specialized, or obscure topics.  These can be combined later with “controlled vocabulary” terms:

CONCEPT #1: cognitive behavior therapy; therapy; clinical interventions

CONCEPT #2:mobile (tele)phones; cell phones; online therapy; remote communication technologies

CONCEPT #3: ---

Also using the online thesauri, identify narrower, or more specific terms or keywords.  These may be used to refine your search and limit search results if necessary:

CONCEPT #1: anxiety management; addiction counseling; family counseling

CONCEPT #2: instant messaging; internet chat; short message service; videoconferencing

CONCEPT #3: ---

Now, in the same way, identify broader or more general terms or keywords.  These may be used to broaden your search and expand search results:

CONCEPT #1: treatment; clinical care; psychopathology

CONCEPT #2: telemedicine; telehealth; digital technologies; information technologies

CONCEPT #3: ---

Using the controlled vocabulary, concepts, terms and keywords listed above, construct one or more Boolean search statements (using AND, OR, NOT) to be entered into databases you select.  Use parentheses, as below, to mark off main concepts (this is called “nesting”).  Main concepts are separated by AND, and related keywords are separated by OR.  NOT is infrequently used to weed out unwanted terms or keywords.  Boolean logic works well in any database.   Simply fill out the form below, and you are ready to enter your search.  After evaluating your results, modify as necessary.  Searching is a process of trial and error!

CONCEPT #1:

DE Subjects [exact]

( counseling OR psychotherapy)

 

AND

CONCEPT #2:

DE Subjects [exact]

( cellular phones OR technology OR internet OR computer mediated communication)

 AND

CONCEPT #3:

(                                    OR                 _          ____OR                                  OR________________)

 NOT

(optional, use with care)

 (                                         ______)

Examples where Boolean Operators are used as “Building Blocks” for an Effective Search

(note use of parentheses—called “nesting”—to mark off main concepts)

 

Using AND….

 

(CONCEPT #1) AND (CONCEPT #2)

(bullying) AND (high school students)

(bullying or teasing) AND (teenagers or adolescents) AND (academic achievement)

(multicultural literacy) AND (American culture or American studies) AND (high school)

(lesbian or gay or homosexual or transgendered) AND (students) and (bullying)

(depression) AND (elderly) AND (group therapy)

 

 

Using OR….

 

CONCEPT #1/#2 can be “exploded” into synonyms, related, broader/narrower terms

(bullying OR harrassment)

(teenagers OR high school students)

(academic achievement OR student  performance OR test scores)

(world wide web OR internet)

(socioeconomic factors OR demographics)

(social networking tools OR blogs OR wikis OR rss feeds)

 

 

Using NOT…..

 

CONCEPT #1 – CONCEPT #2

Weed unwanted items from your results by using NOT to delete them.

(antisocial behavior) NOT (bullying)

(depression) NOT (manic)

(antidepressants) NOT (prozac)

 

Boolean operators allow you to build your search--combining concepts in powerful ways.  Examples of  “database-ready” search statements:

 

Ex. 1 (bullying OR teasing) AND (teenage girls)

Ex.  2 (group work) AND (multicultural literacy)

Ex.  3 (social networking tools OR facebook OR texting) AND (bullying)

Ex.  4 (writing program or writing across the curriculum) AND (bullying)

Ex. 5 (service learning OR community service) AND (empathy)

 

Use quotations to search phrases!  Remember to limit your search, as appropriate, according to type of document (scholarly, peer-reviewed, etc.), date, and other criteria.