4.1. Develop Search Strategies - LANG 1409 - Academic English for Science Studies - LibGuides at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library

Identify Main Concepts and Keywords

The most effective way to search databases is by using keywords. You need to break down your topic into key concepts and terms to help the database understand your query.

Example:

Your topic	Ecological effects of microplastics on marine life in the Pacific Ocean
Break down the topic into keywords or concepts	ecological effects, microplastics, marine life, Pacific Ocean
Form a Basic Search Query AND - all terms should appear in the results	(ecological effects) AND (microplastics) AND (marine life) AND (Pacific Ocean)

Let's do a preliminary search at the PowerSearch to test the scope, if you get too few results (e.g. only 22 results, as shown below), consider using different strategies expand your search query.

For examples, you may expand your search query by using Alternative Terms and Truncation:

Use Alternative Term Look at article abstracts for alternative keywords:	Ecological effects: environmental impact, ecosystem damage, environmental consequences Marine life: aquatic organisms, sea life, marine species, ocean animals Microplastics: plastic debris, plastic particles, marine debris Pacific Ocean: Pacific waters, Pacific region
Use Truncation Use asterisk (*) for different word endings	marine* will return results for marine, marines, mariner plastic* will return results for plastic, plastics, plasticity
Form Expanded Search Query OR—any one or all of the terms may appear in the results. Consider what alternative terms others might use to describe the same concept.	(ecological effect* OR environmental impact* OR ecosystem damage* OR environmental consequence) AND (microplastic OR plastic debris OR plastic particle* OR marine debris) AND (marine life OR sea life OR marine organism* OR aquatic organism* OR ocean animal* OR marine species) AND (Pacific Ocean OR Pacific waters OR Pacific region)

Try this refined query in PowerSearch—you should see more results.

You can continue refining the query to limit or expand the results by using the Search Smart tips or PowerSearch's filters!

Generative AI tools can also help you find similar keywords (more to know)
HKUST ChatGPT Platform can quickly find similar words to build effective search queries, for example:

Prompt:
My research topic is "Ecological effects of microplastics on marine life in the Pacific Ocean".
Can you help me find similar keywords for searching "Ecological effects", "microplastics", "marine life", and "Pacific Ocean"?
Please put it in a table.

Sure! Here’s a table with similar keywords for each of the key terms in your research topic:

Key Term	Similar Keywords
Ecological effects	Environmental impacts, ecological consequences, ecological outcomes, ecosystem effects
Microplastics	Plastic particles, micro debris, microplastic pollution, plastic contaminants, small plastics
Marine life	Ocean life, aquatic organisms, marine biodiversity, sea life, marine species
Pacific Ocean	Pacific waters, Pacific marine environment, Pacific region, South Pacific, North Pacific