Reading response

A crucial step in research is to think of the right words. Here's how to do it.

Start with a sentence about your research topic, like this:

I want to write about how Gloria Naylor uses metaphors in her book Mama Day.

Next, highlight the words that most closely relate to your topic:

I want to write about how Gloria Naylor uses metaphors in her book Mama Day.

Now make a chart giving each highlighted word its own column, like this:

Fill in the columns with other ways to express the same thought. Wikipedia is a great tool for finding alternative words.

Now you have a good collection of search terms. When you go to a database, you usually see a search page with several boxes, like this:

Put one search term into one box, and a second search term into a second box. If that doesn't get good results, try a different combination of search terms, one per box. Play with the options in the "select a field" box. Or try using just one search term, or three. Eventually you'll figure out the best combination.

· Naylor AND "Mama Day" AND metaphor*

· figure of speech OR metaphor*

· "figure of speech"

Pay close attention to the articles you find that are close to what you want. Look at the titles, the abstracts and the subject headings to refine your list of search terms. Then search again using your new list of terms.