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E 350V: Contemporary Gothic, E. M. Richmond-Garza

Search Tips

Preparing to Search

Sometimes, you find exactly what you need with your first search. But it often doesn't work out that way! Try this step-by-step brainstorm before you search the library catalog or databases. 

1. Save time, prepare to research!

  • Break your research question into key concepts (you'll connect these in your paper to make an original argument)
  • For each of these concepts, brainstorm multiple keywords

Sample Topic:

Depictions of gothic and grotesque in comics with female protagonists

Key Concepts

gothic & grotesque

comics

female protagonists

Related Keywords

horror
terror
supernatural
monster*
mysterious

comic* (strip OR book)
graphic novels
sequential art
manga

(wom*n OR girl* OR female)
gender
(main OR lead) character

  • Try this keyword tool to brainstorm online and send the results to yourself.
  • Search the Credo Reference database for a topic-mapping tool to help you brainstorm synonyms and related concepts.


2. Combine keywords using AND and OR:

  • Too many results? Try using quotation marks around an exact phrase. Ex: "female protagonists"
  • Still too many results? Narrow using AND. Ex: female AND protagonist*
  • Too few results? Broaden using OR. Ex: (wom*n OR female*) AND (protagonist OR "main character")
  • Put parentheses around synonyms.
  • The asterisk finds multiple endings from a root word. Ex: wom* will bring back women, woman's, wombat, etc.


3. Brush up on the search tools available:

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.