GNED008 Week 3
Forming Research Questions &
Concept Mapping
Catherine Kwok
Library Reference
lbckwok@ust.hk
Outline
• Isn’t Google enough?
• Analyze a research topic
• How to convert a topic into keywords?
– related terms, synonyms, broader terms,
narrower terms
• Build search statement / complete a
search form in a database
– boolean connectors, truncation, etc.
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Isn’t Google Enough?
• Google search results: best on top
• Not all good information comes free on the
Web
• Often, the best information source is
available via paid databases.
• Most databases do not support Google or
natural language. You will get zero hits!
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Develop Your Topic
• Understand the context & issues involved,
look for inspiration:
– Check out an overview in general or subject
encyclopedias.
– Grab a handbook/textbook and check out the
table of contents.
– SmartCat
• Type “air pollution”
• Expand Subject on the right.
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Test the Water
• Try these databases to see how much or
how little is there:
– Library catalog for books and media
– ProQuest / Academic Search Premier for
general HSS topics
– Business Source Premier for business topics
– LexisNexis Academic for news
• Pick up new ideas and refine your topic.
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Refine your Topic
• Choose a focus or angle with a manageable
scope.
– Narrow a topic, eg.,"air pollution" 
"air pollution in Hong Kong“ or “air pollution
and respiratory diseases in Hong Kong”
– Broaden a topic, eg., "acid rain impact on
Lamma Island in Hong Kong"  "acid rain
impact on the environment in Hong Kong”
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Drugs: Find a Focus
•
•
•
•
•
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Drug use among teenagers – social, education
Drug addicts and psychology
Athletes and drug use – sports ethics
Drug trafficking – social, political, legal
Drugs laws – legal
Drugs research & development for bird flu –
medicine, pharmacology
Your focus will affect choice of databases.
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Concepts and Keywords
Translate your research question to
concepts and keywords to help the
database understand what you are
looking for.
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Consider This
• Your topic: Investigate the effects of
secondhand smoke on health.
• What are the main concepts?
• Think of keywords for each concept
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Map Keywords to Concept
Secondhand, smoke, health
• Secondhand
• Smoke
• Health
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Map Keywords to Concept
Secondhand, smoke, health
• Secondhand passive, secondhand
• Smoke smoking, tobacco, cigarettes,
nicotine
• Health illness, disease, sick, cancer,
tumor, etc.
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Keywords – Dos
• Synonyms, ie., words with similar
meaning
– e.g., disease, illness /passive, secondhand
• Related terms
– e.g., smoking, nicotine
• Broader terms, narrower terms
– e.g., diseases, cancer, tumor
[Go to librarything.com  Search “harry
potter”  member tags]
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Keywords – Don’ts
• Type the whole sentence
• Include articles, prepositions, and
unimportant terms such as "problem",
"effect“ ,”influence,” “discuss,”
“investigate”
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Tools of Keyword Search
• Boolean Operators
– AND
– OR
• Truncation Symbol
• Proximity Operator
• Brackets (parentheses)
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Boolean Operators
• AND
– All keywords must appear in the record
– Narrow a search; find less
e.g., health AND smoking
• Or
– Any one or two or all of the keywords
should appear
– Broaden a search; find more
e.g., smoking OR tobacco Or nicotine
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Truncation
• Means "make something shorter".
• Use a symbol to retrieve the various endings
of words beginning with a common word
root.
• Different databases use different symbols for
truncation. The most common symbols are
* and ?. Some use ! or $ signs.
• Not applicable to Chinese.
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Truncation- examples
Econom* will retrieve
Economy
Economic
Economics
Economical
Economist
Economists
Pollut* will retrieve
Pollutes
Polluted
Polluting
Pollution
Pollutant
Pollutants
Use it to catch all relevant records.
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Write The Words That
Can Be Retrieved
Computer*
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Do Not Over Truncate
• Pol* will get
– politics, political, polymer, polytechnic,
pollution, etc.
• Uni* will get
– unity, united, union, universe, university, etc.
• How to truncate?
– university
– politics
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Do Not Over Truncate
• Pol* will get
– politics, political, polymer, polytechnic,
pollution, etc.
• Uni* will get
– unity, united, union, universe, university, etc.
• How to truncate?
– universit*
– politic*
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Proximity Operator
ultraviolet within 5 cancer
ultraviolet w/10 cancer
ultraviolet n20 cancer
• Use to specify the word distance between
search terms.
• So that they are close together more relevant.
• Useful in full-text searching.
• Always check online help / search guide
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Brackets
• Put related terms in brackets to specify
priorities in searching.
• Terms within brackets will be processed
first.
Health and (smok* or tobacco or nicotine)
What happens if you don’t use brackets?
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Build Search Statements
• (health or disease) and (smok* or tobacco or
nicotine) and (secondhand or passive)
• pollut* and (air or water or noise)
• (Skyscraper* or highrise* or tall building*) and
urban development
• (中醫 or 中藥) and 管理
Tips: connect related, synonyms, broader/ narrower terms
with OR, connect different concepts with AND.
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Which is Incorrect?
Your research topic is "Sociology on and about the Internet.“
i.
internet and sociology and sociological and sociologic
ii. internet and (sociology or sociological or sociologic)
iii. internet and sociolog*
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Which is Incorrect?
Your research topic is "Sociology on and about the Internet.“
i.
internet and sociology and sociological and sociologic
ii. internet and (sociology or sociological or sociologic)
iii. internet and sociolog*
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How to Broaden?
You obtained just 3 records for a search
on the phrase moblie phone market
1. phone OR telephone
2. mobile phone market w/10 competition
3. (mobile OR cell* OR portable) AND (phone*
OR telephone*)
4. mobile phone* OR cell* phone*
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How to Broaden?
You obtained just 3 records for a search
on the phrase moblie phone market
1. phone OR telephone
2. mobile phone market w/10 competition
3. (mobile OR cell* OR portable) AND (phone*
OR telephone*)
4. mobile phone* OR cell* phone*
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How to Narrow?
You obtained over 1,000 records
for a search on rain
1.
2.
3.
4.
rain*
rain AND acid AND pollut*
acid rain w/20 pollution
rain OR acid OR pollution
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How to Narrow?
You obtained over 1,000 records
for a search on rain
1.
2.
3.
4.
rain*
rain AND acid AND pollut*
acid rain w/20 pollution
rain OR acid OR pollution
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Search Tips
To Broaden
To Narrow
To Create Sets
Use Or to connect
related terms and
synonyms
Use And to connect
different concepts
Put related terms or
synonyms within
brackets and combine
sets
Change long phrases
into shorter ones or
single words
Use phrases instead
of single words
Use truncation
symbol
Use proximity
operator
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Discuss the impact of
computers on teenagers
• What are the keywords?
• Think of synonyms or related terms
• Any broader or narrower terms?
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What are the keywords?
Discuss the impact of computers
on teenagers
Brainstorm for Terms
(Synonyms, Broader, Narrower, Related terms)
• Computers
• Teenagers
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Build Search Statements
”Discuss the impact of computers on teenagers”
Set 1: computer, internet, web , www, cyber, online
games
Set 2: teenager*, young people, students, adolescen*
(computer* or internet or web or cyber*) and
(teenager* or young people or adolescen*)
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Homework 2
• You have to submit a paper related to: Genetically
modified food
• It is too broad. Refine your scope. Write down your
research question.
• Write down your mapping of concepts and keywords
• Build two valid search statements using And, Or,
truncation, brackets.
• Email your answers to LBCKWOK by 3 March
• The subject line should read: [your name] GNED 008 HW-2
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