DNP Writing: Choosing Search Terms

When searching for books and articles for your DNP writing, you'll need to choose search terms (also called "keywords") to find those sources.

1. Start with your research question
2. Next, Identify the main concepts in that question
3. Finally, Brainstorm synonyms and related concepts, dates, names, etc.

Check out a demonstration of these steps.

This video (from Lehman Library) demonstrates in 3 minutes:

• how to use a research question to identify the main concepts in that question
• how to use those main concepts to brainstorm synonyms and related terms to use in your search
• how to use Boolen operators (OR and AND) to combine keywords and synonyms for an effective search

For your DNP writing project, you will need to:

• Develop a research question
• Conduct research and select sources that are reliable and relevant
• Adjust your research strategy throughout
• Keep track of your sources using a program such as Zotero
• Write in APA style

You may discover that Staley Library does not subscribe to the specific journal or database with an article that you want to use. In those cases, utilize the interlibrary loan service to avoid paying access fees. See the section about interlibrary loan for more information.

This is what often happens when you type your whole research question in an online catalog or article database search box word-for-word...

Your search will be more effective if you select a few keywords or phrases representing the main concepts of your research question and eliminate other, unnecessary words (for example: a, an, the, or, of, is, etc.) because the database will search for every word included.

Try looking at your research question(s), and circle the most important words:

• Are you researching a specific population?
• What are some examples from the literature about nursing practices on your topic?
• How will you define subjective terms such as caring or best practices?

Then try a search by typing these search terms into the catalog or article database search boxes (see "finding books" and "finding articles" tabs on this guide).

Once you've tried your initial search with the main concepts you've identified, you'll get an idea of whether you might need to adjust your search terms.

• Too many results? 

Try being more specific (narrower) in your search terms. For example, if you're researching autism, you could add signs and symptoms or in boys in the United States in a separate keyword box in the database.

Are there specific names, dates, or concepts related to your research topic? Try adding them to your search.

• Too few results? 

Try being less specific (broader) in your search terms. For example, instead of researching obesity in African-American female smokers between 30-45, try researching just obesity in smokers.

Look at your spelling. Did you spell everything correctly? Are there alternate spellings you could try?

Are there synonyms for your main concepts that might find additional articles? Think about appropriate medical terminology and generic vs. brand names for medication. Is there is a broader descriptive term that would find more articles or books than your more specific term?

• Many databases have a thesaurus, which contains common keywords and their associated official keywords. 

Which of the following is a useful synonym for "culture"?