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Healthcare Administration and Management

Basic Search Tips

SearchUnlike Google, library databases can't understand an entire sentence. So you'll need to break your topic down into the most important ideas - the KEYWORDS.

Example Topic: Should the Affordable Care Act be replaced by Universal Healthcare?

The specifics of your topic will matter when selecting sources, but for searching you only need the most essential components.

Keywords: Affordable Care Act, Universal Healthcare

Should the Affordable Care Act be replaced by Universal Healthcare?

Most words have synonyms that mean the same, or very similar, things. For each keyword in your topic, try to come up with at least one synonym. Not all keywords will have synonyms, but many do!
Example: 
 
Keyword: Affordable Care Act     Synonym: health insurance
Keep an Eye Out
Sometimes scholars use terms that you might not be familiar with, or which might mean something very specific within the discipline. While searching, look for unfamiliar terms or words that show up a lot. Try searching for those and see if you find more relevant sources.
Limit searchMost library databases have search tools built in. Try some of these:
  • Subject: Think of subjects as official hashtags. Use them to find sources about that subject.
  • Date Range: Limit your search to sources published between specific years.
  • Peer Reviewed: Limit your search to scholarly journal articles.
  • Full Text: Make sure all of the results are available to read in full.
Look on the left and right of your search results, or for an "advanced search" page to find these tools - and more!

evaluateYou can evaluate any source using the 5 W's:

  • Who: ...wrote it? Are they an expert?
  • What: ...is the purpose of this resource?
  • Where: ...was this information published? ...does the information come from?
  • When: ...was this published or last updated?
  • Why: ...is this resource useful? ...is this resource better than other ones?

Advanced Search Tips

Use the operator AND to find only sources that mention both keywords.

Affordable Care Act AND Universal Healthcare

This search will bring back fewer results than searching either keyword on its own.
Use the OR operator to expand your search with additional keywords.

Affordable Care Act OR Universal Healthcare

This will find sources that include either word, so you'll see more results than by searching for just one keyword.
Use the “QUOTES” strategy to search for several words in a phrase.

“Affordable Care Act”

This will bring back results that only use that exact phrase
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