Select a research topic or research question. Break it down into keywords. Do some brainstorming of search terms!

Think of synonyms and related terms, as well as broader terms and narrower terms. Review your syllabus, assignment instructions, textbook(s), and readings to identify search terms.

Possible terms to include in your searches for sources:

African Americans, Blacks, causes, city, cities, class, consequences, costs, data, discrimination, disparities, economic costs, effectiveness, financial costs, government, government policy, history, impact, inequality, initiatives, laws, legal, legislation, low income, policy, policies, poor, poverty, problems, programs, public policy, race, recommendations, regulations, risks, segregation, social class, social costs, socioeconomic status, solutions, statistics, strategies, United States, urban, etc. The possibilities are endless!

When searching for information, you will try different keywords and combinations of terms! Be patient and persistent!

Here are some keywords as examples:

African Americans AND housing discrimination 

Africans Americans AND schools AND (segregation OR resegregation)

Crime prevention AND policies AND United States

Digital divide AND academic performance   

Lead AND water pollution AND United States

Opioid epidemic AND costs

Racial profiling AND (police OR law enforcement)                                

Identify additional keywords by reviewing your search results, particularly the SUBJECTS assigned to items and the ABSTRACTS of articles.

• Logic used in online searching
• Use Boolean operators to combine search terms in library catalogs, research databases, and search engines
• The most common Boolean operators are: AND, OR, NOT

Try NESTING your search terms by using both AND & OR:

Examples: