SW 590: Advanced Topic Research for Racial Justice: Search Strategies

Begin by identifying the primary components of your research question and brainstorm related terms. Usually there are two or three components.

For example, if the question is "are there racial disparities in suicide prevention?" the components would be: 

• Concept 1: racism, racial disparities, discrimination
• Concept 2: suicide prevention

When a specific population is part of your search, remember that the words or terms have changed over time, or are used interchangeably. Terms like BIPOC are relatively new. For example, search with Black OR African-American, Native American OR American Indian, Latino/a OR LatinX OR Hispanic. 

Where to Search? 

When you're ready to search for articles, the next thing to consider is "Who cares?" Research literature databases are often organized around disciplines or research areas. For example: 

Before you start searching for resources, take a few moments to think of the relevant terms that you might want to search with. This will help you build and revise your search.

Another valuable way to find related articles is to utilize the references and "cited by"s of any article you already have. Article authors have done a literature review, and so they have identified more articles on the topic for you. 

Also, after an article has been published, other authors working in the same research are likely to cite it in their literature review. Most databases will display a "cited by" link to other articles. For example: 

• Search Social Services Abstracts
• Search PsycINFO
• Search Google Scholar
• More Article Databases 
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