Here are some tips if you have some freedom in selecting your research topic.
Look in your textbook, online course materials, or notes from class. What stood out to you from your recent reading or class discussions?
What interests you about the field you are studying? Why did you decide to seek a career in this field?
Your research topic should not be too broad - otherwise, you could write an entire book on the subject.
Your research topic should not be too specific - otherwise, you will have trouble finding sources or enough information to provide a healthy written discussion of the topic.
Your topic should be researchable - if you only need to locate one factual piece of information to address your research topic, then it is not a suitable topic. If the event or topic is too new, you might have trouble doing research. If the topic has not been written about, you may need to approach your topic from a different perspective.
Your topic should be relevant and significant - have you chosen a topic that will add to your knowledge and contribution to the field you are studying? Will your research benefit you, your future career, and the field as a whole?
Use either MCC Library Services' main search tool located on the library home page or the additional suggested databases, CINAHL or Health Research Premium Collection, to locate articles on topics related to occupational therapy.
Here are some basic search tips that can work with both kinds of databases:
Brainstorm suitable keywords for your search based on what you want to know. Don’t enter questions or sentences into the search screen.
Use PICO where applicable for your topic (patient/problem/population, intervention, comparison intervention/control, outcome/outcomes)
Example: What is the best way to engage a rehabilitation stroke patient experiencing depression to engage in sensory activities?
Do separate searches for each subtopic.
Enclose phrases within "quotation marks."
Choose the Advanced Search option for each database that you search. Use the search fields to create a more specific and targeted search: Subject, Abstract, or Title. This won't be necessary for all of your search terms.
Look for Peer Reviewed or Scholarly Source limiters on various database advanced search screens.
Limit your search to the last 5 years under the Publication Date limiter on the search screen.
| Health Topic | Too broad | Too narrow | Just right! |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain Injuries | X | ||
| Adaptive technology with stroke patients experiencing partial paralysis | X | ||
| Causes of sprains in athletes | X | ||
| Ankle sprains in high school basketball | X | ||
| Occurrence of ankle injuries in Texas Division 2A track and field | X | ||
| Impact of occupational therapy frequency in skilled nursing facilities | X | ||
| Mental health effects of aging | X | ||
| Pet therapy with dachshunds in stroke patients with cognitive impairment | X |
Which of the following searches will be more effective?
A) Are school vouchers good or bad for public schools?
or
B) "school vouchers" AND "public schools" AND issues
The answer is typically B - keywords and phrases.
In most cases, you do not want to type in a long sentence or sentence fragment. Taking your search topic and translating it into the most important keywords that describe your topic is the most effective search technique. The cases in which you would want to use a sentence as your search phrase is when you are gathering background information, you are having trouble effectively searching with keywords, or it is likely authors will use such similarly worded sentences in their articles.
Other tips regarding keywords:
To search for two or more words in an exact order, place quotation marks around the phrase. The computer will only return documents containing that specific phrase rather than documents containing each word found individually anywhere in the document.
EX: "obsessive compulsive disorder"
By using three simple words, you can improve your search results. Boolean searching connects words and phrases with three Boolean Operators, AND, OR, and NOT. Depending on the operator, you can either narrow or expand your search results. Use the Advanced Search tab found in the databases (EBSCO defaults to the this screen).
AND will make your search smaller. If you are getting too many items in your search results, try linking another term to your topic using AND. When you add AND between two or more search terms, your search results will include all of your search terms.
EX: obesity AND children
OR will make your search bigger. If you are receiving too few results, try connecting a synonym to your topic using OR. When you add OR between your search terms, your search results will include either of your search terms.
EX: teenagers OR adolescents
NOT will exclude a word from your search results. If you are getting too many results on an unrelated topic, try eliminating a word with the operator NOT. Your search results will only include the term before NOT.
EX: cowboys NOT football
Library databases have predefined fields that you can search within. Limiting your search to specific fields can make your search more precise. For example, if you are looking for a particular article, type in the article title and choose Title in the drop down field menu. Use the Advanced Search option to search within a field (default search screen in EBSCO). Some common fields are:
EX: EBSCO
Limiters help refine and narrow your search. Using Limiters can give you more precise results. The location of these limiters vary by database, but are commonly found on the left side of the page. Some may be applied before your search or after. Common limiters are:
Truncation allows you to search for a root word with all of its different endings by placing a symbol at the end of the word. Symbols vary by database so check the help section on each database. Common symbols are:
* (asterisk)
! (exclamation mark)
? (question mark)
EX: femini*
The computer will search for feminist, feminism, feminists, feminine, feminize
